《The Legend Of Lin Ti》 Life of a Prodigy? I am a Legend, a prodigy of 2 worlds. An ultimate expert with the strength to crush mountains and, and....... wait wait wait, if I start my story off this way you''ll assume I''m lying or boasting in some self-satisfied manner. So let''s do this, let''s rewind just a bit and start from the beginning, allow me to introduce myself properly. *Ahem*clears throat* My name is Lin Ti and this is my legend. Naturally born Ren Xie, although I said a prodigy I''m not really talented per say. It''s more of the fact that I''m extremely hard working. I guess you could say that is my talent or one that was forced upon me. You see my father was a doctor and my mother was a banker so from a very young age knowledge was forced onto me whether I wanted it or not. While other kids were playing outside, I was being tutored in languages, mathematics and science by the best teachers money could buy. My father personally taught me about the anatomy while my mother crammed my brain with economics and finance. Every day, 365 days a year of constant lectures and test. Naturally my young mind became weak from stress and I was hospitalized for nearly a year. My parents blamed themselves of course and I was finally allowed to relax while I recovered. I was 9 when I was hospitalized and it was then for the first time in my life I got to watch television, the nurse had turned it on to distract me from a shot I was getting. While scared at first from the needle I soon noticed what was on. It was a cartoon called Detective Danger. It was about a man that fought crime. He was an antihero of sorts and he was amazing, knocking guys out and disappearing into the shadows. My young mind couldn''t grasp the amazement I was witnessing. A whole new world had opened up to me. After I was finally released from the hospital my parents went a lot easier on me. Instead of 7 tutors a day they reduced it to 5, I actually had 3 hrs every day to myself. I started going outside to a local book shop, my parents wouldn''t let me watch any tv at home so the only way I could see Detective Danger was on the pages of his comic. He had hundreds of them. I quickly bought them all and took them home. When my dad saw me and a few of my bodyguards carrying tons of books naturally he was curious and asked and for the first time in my life I lied. It came so natural and so quick I almost couldn''t believe what I was saying. I told my father the books were for self-study and he believed me, had he looked closer at them he would have immediately seen through me and discovered the truth but thank god he was busy. After that, I locked myself away for three hours every day. All I would do is read, it was my own personal paradise. I was completely in the world of Detective Danger and I soon found I had a lot in common with him. He too was rich and from a young age he studied hard as well. The only real difference was his parents were dead and he had a butler who was like a parent named Alfred. I also had a butler, but he and I never spoke. In Detective Danger I learned that my hero learned all kinds of martial arts, I wanting to be like him immediately sought my parents and begged them to let me learn martial arts. At first they were very hesitant, but once again a lie easily slipped out from me. I told them the reason I wanted to learn was so my body would be tougher and if it was tougher I would be less likely to fall ill thus allowing me to study more and become more successful in the future. Hearing this, they both agreed and after about a week a strange man showed up to our mansion. My father introduced him as my martial arts instructor. At first I was thrilled and eager to learn to be just like Detective Danger but soon I found myself in tears, my teacher was harsh to the extreme. Before, I would wake at 7:30 a.m every morning and get ready for my day, but master woke me at 4:30 a.m and forced me to train. Every day I would train for 3 hours in the morning before my tutors arrive. Once more I found myself begging to my parents this time to fire master, but they scolded me, told me they didn''t raise a quitter. Saddened I could only bear with it, but for my master it wasn''t enough. He said that I was progressing too slowly and so he took my 3 hours of personal time away. Now I was training 6 hrs every day. I truly hated him, but my parents would do nothing. More than a year went by and my teacher finally said that he was ready to teach me techniques. After age 12 I no longer need any tutors, my knowledge surpassed all of theirs. Not because I was some genius, but because I was forced to learn and memorise. naturally after having no breaks and learning everyday my mind absorbed it all. The only one who remained was my master. Finally, I had time to myself again, but, of course, my master took a huge portion of my personal time, but at least for 2 hrs every day I could once again dive into that world of Detective Danger. After another year, master told me that my techniques were nearly perfect and that now we would move on to the most important part of martial arts. The energy in which gives power to all techniques this energy was called KI. I soon found that every part of me was stronger. The ki that flowed through my body circulating into every single cell and arriving back into my dan tian, my core, had granted me a new sense of reality. I could smell further, I could hear incredibly far, my speed when running was almost blurred, my strength was easily 15 times stronger and if that wasn''t incredible enough I could sense living things in my presence by up to 5 meters. I finally understood for the first time in my life my master wasn''t evil, he was just a misunderstood genius. And for the first time in my heart I truly acknowledged my master. This continued for years and with this progress I found myself loving martial arts, I was truly happy. Until one day my mother found my comics, she burned them all in front of me said they were a waste of time and to never read them again. When my father found out I thought he would be mad at me as well, but instead he was mad at my mother. He saw how much the books had meant to me and was truly enraged that his wife would destroy something his son loved. Soon an argument broke out between them and lasted for quite a while. I had wished that that would have been the end of it, but afterwards every day they would fight over me, over how to raise me and what was best for me and then they would fight over other things. At first little things like how one would dress and how another would eat, It became routine. Every day they would pick at each other until neither could take it anymore and they promptly got a divorce. They both moved out of the house when they asked me who would I live with once again arguments ensued. I told them I would just live at home with master. Seeing as how the other couldn''t win they agreed to it and me and master found the house to be quite empty. I sunk into a depression and was sad for a long time until my master took me to many competitions in which I won every single one of them hands down, crushing everyone quite easily. It seemed that ki was not something widely known to people. They knew of it from movies and tv, but all of them only saw it as legends and fantasy, that coupled with my perfect technique and my toughened body I quickly shocked the world. Magazine covers, news articles my face was everywhere. With money starting to come in and an abundance of free time, I became lazy. I stayed in read comics and watched anime. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Even master couldn''t rouse my spirit. Seeing how he couldn''t interest me in anything and he had taught me everything he knew he left and retired. I was his best student and he was old enough now so he wanted to relax. He had reached his limits in martial arts long ago and there was nothing more for him to do so he went back to his hometown and settled down. As for me, I became bored, stagnant if you will. Tired of doing the same thing every day over and over. My parents seeing me in this state couldn''t stand it any longer and they both agreed to cut me off. I found myself living on the street. Everything that I wanted to do cost money and so I decided to earn some cash. I first went and donated some blood earning a measly $30. I then went to a net cafe. With the knowledge I possessed and the lack of funds, there was only one thing that could earn me a living in a short amount of time. Well 2 if you include illegal means, but I was raised to be good so for me there was really only one way to earn money fast and that was stocks. After creating an account, using the knowledge from my mother I easily analyzed the stocks to a frightening degree and picked up some subtle clues about the stocks. After analyzing the stocks, I then read news articles about what has been happening around the world lately. Looking over everything, an article stood out to me. It wasn''t anything amazing just a farm had to recall a shipment of chickens that may have been sick. The prices of that company''s stock went down, but that wasn''t what grabbed me that company also sells eggs to over 3000 different stores around the country. Which means that if I invest now the price should shoot up when they have to recall the eggs. I would have invested in the chicken stock, but that was only one shipment of chickens going to one store, but these eggs were going to 3000 different stores. The profit I would make would be many times greater. I checked the stores and they were a chain of stores. there were 3 different conglomerates that owned these chain of stores. I saw that the stock fro these 3 conglomerates were starting to go up someone else had noticed what I had. I quickly bought a tiny bit of stock from each company and waited, sure enough the next day the stocks of each company had gone up several points. I sold my shares at the highest guaranteed price and made $700. After that, it was on, that 700 became $10,000 and from that to $272,000. Within a year, I had made several millions of dollars it was too easy. The very next year I had made over a hundred million, once again I became a bit of a celebrity. People called me the wolf of wall street. I never lost money and I always made a profit. Because of this many powerful people didn''t like what I was doing and many more even hated me. In 5 yrs, I had started buying companies and maximising their profits I had built a global empire and by then I had made my first billion dollars, I was truly a force to be reckoned with. By my 25 birthday, I was worth well over 40 billion dollars, but I found myself in the same situation, again I became bored. It was simply too easy to make money. Everything I wanted I could easily get, nothing was a challenge anymore. I found myself becoming a humanitarian and helping many people, donating billions to charity, building schools and hospitals. I thought if I did some good maybe then I would feel better, but still no. I found myself sitting alone one day when I received a package, it was a card from my father wishing me a happy birthday. I had been so bored that I had even forgotten my own birthday. Reading it brought a small smile to my face but nothing more. At the bottom of the card, it read p.s "Detective Danger is here to take away your boredom." In the rest of the package was a Detective Danger comic. As I set down the card I looked over the comic with fond memories, it was then that a strange idea popped into my mind. It was so stupid but at the same time it wasn''t. I thought to myself how come I''m not a superhero. When I was a child I wanted to be just like Detective Danger and we were very similar. Both smart, both rich and both are extremely skilled in martial arts. Why don''t I do it? What''s stopping me? Thinking it over I only became more and more excited. For the first time in my life, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I will become a superhero. I quickly looked up different materials for a costume names that I might use and anything else I would need to start being a hero, but I found myself being bogged down by running a billion dollar conglomerate, I simply had no time. After thinking about it for a while I decided to step down as president of all my company''s and just have controlling interest 51% of them if you will, but in order to make everything finalised I had to fly out and sign some legal documents. On my own personal jet, everything was going smoothly until disaster struck. There had been bad weather for a while and lightning from a storm struck my plane destroying 2 of the engines. The plane started to plummet towards the ground and I just couldn''t believe it. Ever since I was born there was virtually no fulfilment in my life and after 25 years I finally figured out my purpose in life and it was about to end. All that money I had worked hard and earn by myself, this body that I tempered and honed to an excruciating degree, all my knowledge, what was the point. I had a few girlfriends here and there, but nothing permanent so I never got married nor had kids. I''m leaving nothing behind but a business. I don''t even have any friends to mourn for me after I''m gone. All I could do was curse in disappointment, my chest burned with rage and fury and as the plane finally hit the ground my last words were... "FUCK!" After that, there was darkness, everything seemed to be black and still. There were no screams, no pain, no feeling at all. If nothingness existed then this would be it. Where is this am I dead? After a second, I heard something a voice I think. It was saying something, but I couldn''t quite understand it. "ple" What, what was that that voice just now? IN the darkness, a small voice could barely be heard. "s...ple.." Is it talking to me? "ke....u.......p" Is this for me? It''s then that I feel a pull from the direction of the voice, a suction if you will and this time the voice is completely crystal clear. "PLEASE WAKE UP!" My eyelids feel so heavy, but my brows twitch anyway and I sluggishly open them. At first my vision is filled with light until my sight adjust. I seem to be lying down in plain bed and above me a woman is holding me tightly and crying. I try to open my mouth to say something, it''s then that I notice a shooting pain in my entire body and because of it I bellow out a scream. "Ahhhhh!" The woman nearly jumps from fright and looks down at me as she cries loudly. Seeing me awaken, tears flow from her like a river and she squeezes me again and shouts. "Lin Ti my son you''re alive, thank god thank god thank god." Once more I release a roar in anguish "Ahhhh it burns!" I quickly faint from the pain and as I do a thought pops into my head "Who is Lin Ti?" End of prologue Chapter 1|| Sense The Ki Ch 1 Hope you guys enjoy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As my consciousness slips, A question repeatedly fills my mind "Who is Lin Ti?" After an indeterminable amount of time, I feel my body once more and it is filled with an intense pain from head to toe; It''s as though I am on fire. I howl within my mind just wishing for it all to end. As I do, soon a small blue light hovers above my body and slowly seeps into me. As it does, a cooling sensation slowly numbs the pain before my whole body relaxes and the pain fades to nothingness. The pain is no more. I once more hear that panicked trembling voice that called me from death. "Please, Chief! tell me he''s fine, tell me Lin Ti will be ok." *Sigh* "Lara, your son will survive...........but, unfortunately, my magic isn''t enough." Hearing this, the woman named Lara became quite distraught causing her entire body to tremble. A look of horror flashed across her face and she quickly shouted "What do you mean? you healed him didn''t you I....I don''t understand." "Lara you must calm yourself for what I am about to say will be hard to hear. Please sit." After Lara took a seat the chief continued "Lara, as you know my healing techniques are at the lowest lvl. My water magic is only at intermediate 1st-star lvl. I''m afraid that with my power I can only take away his pain and make him comfortable. As for healing him completely....... *shakes head* "I''m afraid there''s nothing more I can do." Lara''s face was suddenly several shades paler. she jumped up grabbing the chief by his hands. "Chief, please there must be something... anything!" Once more the chief shook his head solemnly. "Lara it''s already a miracle Lin Ti''s small body could even survive being struck by lightning and the fact that he''s stable now is in itself another miracle, but with my magic........ I cannot restore his body. Lara.......... I''m sorry............... but Lin Ti will never leave his bed again. All we can do now is keep him comfortable and hope he recovers on his own, but the chances of a full.... Suddenly a large commotion started up outside and the door to the small home burst open "My SON!... WHERE IS MY SON!? A large burly man had rushed into the room with a panic stricken face. Upon seeing Lin Ti covered in bandages and unconscious, his heart sank. He quickly rushed to Lin Ti''s bedside, but before he could embrace his son the chief intercepted him and shouted. "Zhen Ti do not touch him! if he dies it will be you to blame" The burly man named Zhen Ti froze on the spot and with a trembling voice Zhen Ti spoke "Chief what happened? I was in the fields and someone told me Lin was hurt. What happened? Why can''t I touch him?" The chief released a slight sigh. *sigh* "Zhen, Lin Ti...........your son was struck by lightning Hearing this Zhen Ti inhaled a cold breath from shock as the chief continued. "He was playing with some of the other children near the edge of the forest when he was suddenly struck by lightning. When I sensed it, I rushed immediately to the sight. There, I discovered your son near death, his body was covered in blood and most of his body is still burnt, at least 70%. The fact that he hasn''t died is a miracle and although I have done my best with healing him he is still in a fragile state, but even still, if you touch him you may aggravate his wounds. I already warned Lara....... The chief cut his words short trying to figure out how to break the rest of the news, but in the end he thought it best to just tell him "Lin will most likely never leave his bed again, he is crippled." Zhen Ti''s entire body was shaking. His sons life has just been entirely flipped upside down and now he learned he would be a cripple all his life. There was no containing the tears that started to stream down his face. He wanted to reach out and touch his son''s face but remembered the chiefs words and restrained himself. His wife Lara hugged him from behind and cried into his broad back, neither could speak a word. The chief then walked over and sat them both down and spoke calmly. "I know what you two are thinking. You wonder if a stronger water mage could heal him. If it''s even possible. These are the questions going through your minds right now." The chiefs expression suddenly darkened "Certainly if you got a 5-star water mage to heal your son then they could definitely do it, but I''m afraid the cost is simply astronomical to you or me. That isn''t even the full extent of your problems. Even if you were to somehow inherit a small fortune to hire a 5-star water mage do you think they would heal your son, let alone me or you. You know how mages see themselves. As if they are above commoners. Unless you were a noble or someone of higher standing I believe a mage might even be angered were we to ask them. They might even destroy our little village out of spite. For them, they would take it as if it were an attack on their reputation were they to help a commoner. So when I told Lara there was nothing to be done I meant it." Lara nearly fainted trying to comprehend the words that were said and Zhen felt as though he couldn''t breathe. He was enraged by the fact that there were people out there that could help his son, but wouldn''t, simply because of his status as a commoner. "Why then, why do you help us chief? you''re a mage, but you don''t look down on us or do you? Do you sit in your big house laughing at us commoners as you lead us around like a herd of sheep..............Answer me!" The chief recalled a few bitter memories and gave an awkward smile he turned around and slowly walked towards the door just before he left he whispered a few words "I could never look down on anyone. Zhen Ti I am weak, please forgive me." Realising he had said something wrong to the chief, Zhen Ti wanted to say something, but the chief had already left. The saddened couple hugged each other and cried for a while over their child. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Meanwhile, Lin Ti had overheard everything causing him to sigh inwardly. ["so I really did die.*sigh* Just when I finally got a glimpse of my purpose in life I end up dying and if that''s not bad enough I reincarnate into someone else''s body and a crippled one at that. Am I cursed or simply unlucky? In one world, I''m rich and strong and I wasted that life. I die and now I''m in a new world with a new life, a new opportunity, but I''m crippled. What is with this shit?"] If Lin Ti believed in a god he would curse his name right now. ["How laughable, there''s magic in this world and I may never get to even try it. Damn what a waste, what a terrible waste."] Lin Ti felt bitterness to the extreme, he wondered what was the point in coming to a new world if he could not experience any of it. After a few hours, Lin Ti finally calmed down and although he didn''t accept the situation there was nothing he could do. After he finally relaxed a bit he noticed his parents of this world were not around. His mother was in the kitchen preparing food and by his senses he could tell there was a man outside chopping wood, no doubt it was his father, but that wasn''t all he could sense. With his mind finally relaxed, he soon realised that his eyes hadn''t been open this whole time. So how then could he tell where his father and mother were and what they were doing at the moment? *shocked* Lin Ti realised that his sense from his homeworld remained. It was said in martial arts that in order to have this extra sense, one had to master their own soul. With your soul mastered your senses would go beyond human understanding. In his previous world he had gained this sensing ability long ago, he knew his soul inside and out. Conquering the soul was the last realm you had to dominate to become a true master of martial arts. In total, there were four realms of martial arts. The first was the body realm. Pushing yourself to your physical limits and then surpassing them. The second was the mind realm. Pushing your psyche to the limits and controlling your emotions. The third was the life realm or the ki realm. Ki is life energy, it is found all throughout the world. In order to master it, you first have to learn to absorb it then circulate it through your body and meridians, condensing it into your dan tian or core if you will. After that is opening each gate in the body. there are 4 gates in total equaling the 4 realms. With each gate open the body as well as the senses increase in power exponentially. These 3 realms were taught to Lin Ti by his master. The 4th and final realm, the soul realm, was learned entirely by Lin Ti. It is because of this realm that Lin Ti doesn''t believe in a god and it is because of this realm that Lin Ti''s soul along with his memories and his extra sense his soul-sense still remained even after death. Lin Ti suddenly had a thought. If his soul-sense remained what else remained as well. With but a thought his soul-sense entered his body searching for something deep within. The more he explored the more shocked he was that this boy''s body survived. 2nd and 3rd-degree burns over most of his body, nerves disintegrated, tissue torn, blood ruptured it was quite a mess. The left lung is entirely collapsed. The brain is slightly damaged, blood clots in both legs as well as in the neck both arms and left shoulder. The heart is damaged palpitating without rhythm, both kidneys damaged, liver damaged, 5th 6th and9th vertebrae in the spine snapped or crushed. Tendons in both legs twisted unnaturally 3 ribs over the left side fractured and both eyes blinded due to the sheer brightness of the strike, but still Lin Ti searched deeper until he finally made his way into the dan tian. "So the people of this world have dan tian''s as well, maybe there are martial art practitioners as well." In the dan tian, Lin Ti discovered what he had been looking for. Without Lin Ti''s extraordinary Soul-sensing ability, he probably would not have found what he needed. Within the tiny dan tian in a spot nearly as small as an atom, there was a speck of ki. Most people in his original world had this very same speck and with hard work during the course of their life maybe they could have learned to use it, but because ki was more of a fairytale in his world no one practised it. Only Lin Ti his master and a handful of others used it. The reason why Lin Ti searched for it was because it would tell him the most important thing he would need to know. And that is if there is ki in this body, a body that was born in this world, then that would mean that there was also ki in this world. After discovering that tiny little speck, Lin Ti used his soul-sense and nudged it just a little awakening it if you will. As soon as he did, something amazing happened. The ki within this world for the first time moved toward a human being and within seconds Lin Ti could feel it. Slowly but surely little specks of ki began to pull into Lin Ti''s body. Lin Ti couldn''t help but grow excited in his mind. Now that he knew for sure there was ki in this world there was no way he would stay a cripple. After just a few minutes that speck of ki that was comparable to an atom in his body, after circulating it and condensing the excess ki from the world the amount of his ki already grew to the size of a grain of rice. Compared to his ki in the other world it was like a drop in the ocean. Not something anyone should brag about, but to Lin Ti it was a new life and he would grasp it with everything he had. As he continued this, he forced the life energy into every cell in his body causing it to slowly start to regenerate. The more ki he could absorb and condense the faster his body would heal. Tissue started to regrow as well as new skin and nerves, bone began to mend, muscle repaired and grew stronger. Liver, kidney, lung, heart and even his brain. Everything was slowly healing. All he needed now was time, in his mind he would never remain a cripple and his body was beginning to agree. End of ch1 Chapter 2|| Recovery CH 2 A few days had passed since my arrival into this body. I had learned a bit about who I was as well as where I was. My name is Lin Ti, I am in a 5-year-old and it appears that this brain is mentally slow, the person I took over I mean. Because although this body was 5 years old he had yet to ever say a word. And the day I came to this body and yelled out in pain, it seems my words were garbled and incomprehensible. Not only that but some of the memories from this kid have merged with mine. It seems he was constantly bullied but without being able to speak and being so weak he could tell no one about it. It seems he suffered quite a bit and now he is truly gone and his body is now my body, his soul has left *sigh* I live in a small village in the country so small that it doesn''t even have a name. The populace is no more than 600 lead by the village chief. My mother is called Lara Ti. She is 25 years old and she is a bit frail. She is 5foot 6 inches tall with wavy brown hair and brown eyes and although she is frail she still works hard and she smiles with sincerity each time she looks at me. My father Zhen Ti is 26, he''s tall, just over 6 feet. His chest and back are both broad and his muscles bulge out a bit, his hair is short and brown and his eyes are black like the night. His skin is a bronze color due to the sun: it seems he works a neighbors field every day as a job. The house we live in is quite small, no more than 2 rooms and a kitchen. It''s tiny and to top it all off we are poor and not just poor, but dead poor. In other words, we have nothing, but I''m not upset. Material things never really interested me. The only thing that could upset me is if my situation were truly hopeless, but because of ki I''ve already started to recover. The only problem really is that my dan tian is simply too small, really it''s quite pitiful. It has recently grown to the size of a small egg, that''s how much ki I can fit into it without having a blowback. I would love to have it grow to a bigger size but because of my condition and weakened body it would do more harm than good to try and forcefully expand my dan tian. Because of that, the rate of my healing is impaired greatly. If I had the same amount of ki I had in my previous world then these wounds wouldn''t even take an afternoon to heal, but because of this tiny dan tian it will take months before I''m 100% *sigh* but all I can do is to continue to absorb, circulate, and heal. What a boring process. Well, at least my family seems nice. As time ticks away every day a certain pattern repeats itself. My father wakes up before the sun rises and starts a small fire followed by my mother who begins to make breakfast. Every morning she prepares the same thing, gruel boiled in water. If were lucky a neighbor will give us a bit of milk and then it will be boiled in milk instead. After she feeds me, her and my dad sit and eat together. When father finishes he simply gets up and leaves, on his way out my mom always says the same thing. "have a good day dear." Followed by a silent nod from my father. My mother then checks on my wounds, she gently cleans me with a rag before redressing my wounds just as gently. All the while she fills my head with stories about the world. At first I was really embarrassed to have a strange woman I don''t know change me, but then I remember I''m in a child''s body and she''s my mother and I simply have no choice but to let it go. Afterwards she ever so carefully lifts me up and lays me in her and my father''s bed before she changes the sheets on mine, before putting me back in mine and does the same to hers. After that, she''s busy all day. Laundry, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing windows, every chore. She always does them without complaint followed by a trip to the forest. Behind our house is a huge forest with me in tow. Of course, she carries me on her back as I have no way of moving on my own. Like that, we disappear into the thicket. There my mother tiredly picks herbs and fresh vegetables. Any plant that''s edible that she can find she picks. We then make our way back to the village where she trades the herbs she''s picked for a few goods. Either more vegetables a small bit of meat or for common necessities a simple house needs. On the way back home she fills a bucket of water from the village well and proceeds to carry me the vegetables she picked the things she traded for and the bucket filled with water back to our home. Once were there she again lays me in the bed before she tends to what''s needed. She fills a medium sized pot with half the bucket of water before she goes outside to the backyard. Using my soul-sense, I can tell exactly what she''s doing. Standing back there with a heavy ax high above her head as she swings down with all of her might. *whack* She begins to split wood for a fire. Every few minutes she''ll stop to listen, presumably to check in on me before once more swinging down with all her might. After a few minutes of this she returns with hands full of splintered wood. As she proceeds to start a fire and cook I found out that she wasn''t making lunch but instead preparing dinner. As it turned out most people in this world don''t have lunch, that was mainly reserved for people well off. Usually everyone else had to work or simply couldn''t afford 3 meals a day, we as well could only have 2. While my mother cut vegetables she would occasionally hum a soft melody. Although she wouldn''t sing, still I could tell she had a lovely voice. After she added the vegetables she then sliced the small amount of meat very thinly as there wasn''t much to go around. Having meat itself was quite rare for our family, maybe we would have it 2 times a month or none at all. As the stew began to thicken, a delicious and fragrant smell wafted in the tiny home filling the air with the smell of a nice home cooked meal. As the night descended father finally returned home. The two told each other about their days father asked how I was doing before checking in on me himself while mom said how good I was. Finally, the food was done. Since I still could not feed myself mother fed me while dad washed up for dinner. After I was done they began to eat while discussing my health as well as other things going on in the village, meanwhile I was not lazy. Every day I filled my dan tian with pure untouched ki and was healing my body more and more. At the moment, my lungs and heart were already nearly recovered as they were most important, everything else had barely even begun to heal. Every few days the chief would come check in on me and every time he was more and more astonished. Although outwards I was still dreadful, inwardly though he had been surprised by the recovery of my organs. This continued for nearly 8 months and although I was perfectly healed on the inside by this time my outward appearance didn''t change by much. My skin appeared almost as burnt and scarred as the day I was struck, along with hideous scabs. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. These though were superficial to me and I could fix them in a day if I truly wanted to. It''s just that if I did then that would be highly suspicious. I didn''t know enough about this world to reveal something so shocking, the consequences of which I couldn''t predict. However, if I remained scarred on the outside people would assume that I was still recovering at a normal rate and if I were to get up and about while still covered in burns and scars people would just assume that my internal injuries weren''t as bad as originally said to be by the chief. After all he was only a 1st-star intermediate water mage so they would just assume his skills weren''t that great. However, if I roamed around with no scars that would be bad, there was no way someone would misdiagnose those burns. Especially since there were many witnesses who had seen the burns. If I walked around with flawless skin then rumors would spread like wildfire, therefore, ill keep the burns this way for now and heal them slowly over the next 5 or 6 years. By then ill be 10 or 11 and I could just claim to have been healed by a passing saint while I was out in the forest by myself or something along those lines. Who would believe a child would lie about something like that, especially when they wouldn''t see burns on me anymore. It was a simple plan, but surely it would be effective. for now though it was time to make a few moves, I couldn''t be looked at as a cripple for much longer. The following morning when my father woke up early as usual and prepared a fire he was surprised to see a fire already lit and his son sitting at the table quietly doing nothing. Immediately Zhen rushed up to me and grabbed me at the shoulders inspecting my body frantically. "Son! Son, you''re up your out of bed. How did you do this? do you hurt anywhere!?" A million questions raced through Zhen Ti''s mind causing him to be tongue tied for a minute. His breathing was erratic and his black eyes darted all over Lin Ti''s body looking for something that wasn''t there. Finally, Zhen Ti couldn''t bare it any longer. Fearing it was a dream, he pinched himself hard on his arm. "Ow." After confirming that his pain was real, Zhen Ti finally realized that this, in fact, was not a dream and his expression turned to one of excitement causing him to loudly yell for his wife. "Lara wake up wake up!" Zhen ti wanted to personally go into his room and shake his wife awake, but he felt if he were to let go of Lin Ti now then he really would wake up from a dream and as a father his heart couldn''t bare for this to not be real. So after a brief moment of stillness he once more yelled to his wife. "LARA FOR GODS SAKES WAKE UP!!" A second later and a crashing noise could be heard from within Zhen and Lara''s room followed by Lara yelling and rushing into the kitchen "WHAT!! WHAT HAPPENED!?" But upon entering it was obvious. She too ran up to me and began to scan my body up and down with her eyes. Not finding the problem she grew worried. "Zhen, what is it? what happened to Lin Ti?" Zhen quickly explained what had happened, how he had awoken and found a fire lit and Lin Ti sitting quietly at the table waiting. Hearing this caused Lara to tremble. She knelt down next to her husband and embraced her son tightly as long streams of tears began to trickle down her face. Zhen Ti as well hugged them both as tears filled his eyes. Just as quickly though he jumped to his feet. "The chief! I have to tell him. This is a miracle, god has answered our prayers." Quickly Zhen Ti ran outside and darted to the chiefs house. After a few moments, Zhen Ti had returned with the chief in tow and the chief unhesitatingly examined Lin Ti. He was constantly being surprised by this boy and today would be no exception. Inwardly he could see Lin Ti had healed like a dragon, but for some strange reason outwardly he healed at the rate in which a turtle moved. The chief couldn''t understand this boy''s body it had stumped him again and again, but one thing the chief knew for sure, this boy would not be a cripple. After a while, the Village Chief removed his hand and chuckled lightly "Hehehe, Lin Ti is truly amazing his body on the inside has completely healed." The couple hearing this were embracing each other happily before Lara decided to ask something. "Chief." "Yes, Lara." "Chief, when do you think our sons burns will heal?" Zhen Ti hearing this started nodding as well he too was curious. If his son had healed like this on the inside then what was stopping him from healing outwardly too. The chief took his focus off of Lin Ti and put it on the couple. "I honestly don''t know." Hearing this the couples expressions both turned to ones of depression, but the next thing the chief said immediately cheered them up. "But your son is in luck, the day he was struck by lightning I truly had no hope that he would survive but after he did and he seemed to be recovering slowly I decided to contact an acquaintance of mine to help heal your son." Lara''s eyes lit up as she shouted "An acquaintance, who?" "His name is Shen and he is a 6-star water mage." Zhen and Lara''s jaws both dropped to the floor before they both said the same thing. "Your friends with a 6-star water mage?" Seeing their expression, the chief quickly shook his head no. "Relax you two, don''t get excited. Although I say he is an aquatint him and I are not friends. He simply owes me a favor for something I did for him long ago. I would have told you sooner, but I didn''t want to get your hopes up. Because although I say he owes me a favor this man like other high-ranked mages look down on commoners and Shen is especially crude so I did not even know if he would even repay my favor and help. But as it turns out Shen''s reputation might be tarnished by me had he not kept his promise and after many months of sending him letters I finally convinced him to look at your son. So within the next few weeks Shen should arrive here and finish Lin Ti''s recovery process, hopefully. End of ch 2 Chapter 3||Bully After the chief had left Lara and Zhen were nothing but smiles the rest of the day. While Zhen worked his neighbors fields vigorously with the sun on his back and the sweat in his brow a huge smile could be seen plastered on his face. As for Lara, she was exactly like her husband as she tended to the house and did her daily activities. On her face as well laid a joyful smile. As she went into the forest, this time she did not need to carry her son because he actively walked beside her. Everywhere she went there he was right at her side following. As she returned to the village to trade and barter some of the herbs and vegetables she had picked in the forest. People were stunned to see a small boy covered from head to toe in bandages walking freely on his own accord right next to her. It was just yesterday that the woman had been caring her son everywhere she went, never stopping to put him down once and now today he was up and lively as though he had never been injured, but because he was stilled wrapped in bandages people instantly snapped back to reality and went along with their day. Figuring he was still injured to some capacity. Quite quickly the whole village knew of Lin Ti''s recovery and although some were shocked most of the villagers just chalked it up to the chief healing him. Besides the chief, no one else in the village could use magic and as they were located in a small village on the outskirts of a large country most of them were not educated let alone educated on the ways of magic. They couldn''t possibly know that it wasn''t the chief who had healed Lin Ti without the parties involved telling them and now that Shen the 6-star water mage was on his way there Lin Ti wouldn''t have to fake a story of him running into a saint in the forest and getting healed. Because of this Lin Ti had one less thing to worry about so naturally he was in a good mood as well. Later on back at home Lin Ti''s mother was in the backyard chopping wood for later while Lin Ti was in the front yard playing. Before Lin Ti was injured that''s where he would normally play since he was all but healed she saw no reason to not let him play. She was sure he was eager to get back to some type of normalcy after being bedridden for 8 months. In the front yard, though, Lin Ti was not playing. Instead, he was searching for something within. Living in this world he could easily feel the pure ki, life energy, saturating the air and earth, but for some reason Lin Ti felt as though something extra, another type of energy lingered around, but he couldn''t quite figure out what it was. Though he knew for sure it was there every few minutes though he would be interrupted by his mother would stop cutting wood and would listen quietly for him. Lin Ti was forced to reassure her with a light laugh so she wouldn''t have to check on him all the way. Quickly though she would go back to cutting firewood. While using his soul-sense Lin Ti had a certain feeling, as though that different energy was slowly about to reveal itself. When suddenly Lin Ti felt the air in front of him vibrate ever so slightly. *swoosh* While still using his soul-sense Lin Ti quickly dodged out of the way *thwack* a small stick had flown past Lin Ti''s head and struck his house behind him. Lin Ti felt the presence of people grow. Opening his eyes slowly, indeed his senses were accurate. In front of him appeared 5 people 4 boys probably between the ages of 11-12 not quite into puberty as well as one girl, maybe she was 8 years old. The young girl quickly shouted. "Dou Kou, leave him alone." Inside Lin Ti''s mind memories were flooding in like a river. Lin Ti quickly discovered that the previous Lin Ti was bullied from these 4 boys the one named Dou Kou especially. The boy named Dou Kou was really the main culprit and the reason for that was that Lin Ti''s Father Zhen Ti worked for Dou Kou''s father Tian Kou. As well as the other boys fathers, they all worked for Tian Kou on his farm and so Dou Kou would boss the other boys around and they did what he said because they feared their fathers would get fired with one bad word from Dou. So they reluctantly helped bully Lin Ti. The one called Dou Kou shouted back. "Mei Mei, shut up. I can do whatever I want to the retard." Hearing Dou Kou shout at her Little Mei quickly hid behind one of the boys who was her older brother and in a frightened tone she said. "Brother, how can you let Dou Kou be so mean to me?" But the boy she called brother simply gave a self-mocking smile and said nothing. The boy named Dou Kou got loud again. "Little Mei I said shut up. Do you want me to hit you?" In a panic, little Mei clung even harder to her brothers back and didn''t dare utter another word. Dou Kou looked menacingly at Lin Ti. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "I heard you got better retard so I came to make sure that wasn''t true. It looks like it was a lie since you still have bandages on, but it''s not like that''s ever stopped me before hahaha." Hearing this Lin Ti could help feel a bit of anger growing in his stomach. Lin Ti remembered all the cruel things Dou Kou had done to the previous him. Dou Kou was truly a piece of scum and although normally Lin Ti could easily control his emotions it seems that Dou Kou left traumas on the previous Lin Ti causing anger to well up within him. Lin Ti sneered at the boys and said. "Trash like you are usually found at the bottom of a pile of pig shit." Dou Kou and the other boys, as well as little Mie, were shocked. They had never heard Lin Ti speak and they all thought him to be retarded, but then the first thing they ever hear from his mouth is an insult. Plus the insult was beyond the scope of what a 5 yr old would say let alone a 5 yr old that supposedly was dumb. Dou Kou''s shock quickly disappeared and was instead replaced with anger, he shouted back. "You...you ugly retard, I''ll kill you." Immediately Dou Kou rushed towards Lin Ti with a fist drawn back he was always quick to violence when it came to Lin Ti and for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, Lin Ti stood there looking at Dou Kou indifferently. As the fist was thrust forward Lin Ti quickly wrapped his left fist in ki and caught Dou Kou''s hand with ease, shocking the boy once more. "How did you..." But before Dou Kou finished his sentence Lin Ti wrapped his other fist in a thin layer of ki and launched one quick punch right into Dou Kou''s chin. *Thump* Dou Kou''s body was lifted off the ground by a few inches and flew back several feet before he slammed against a tree where he slumped to the ground unconscious. Small streams of blood trickled down the side of his face. Lin Ti released a long breath and silence filled the air. As he stared at the other boys as well as little Mei he couldn''t help but smile coldly at them. It was the first time Lin Ti had ever hit someone in anger and he didn''t exactly hate the feeling. Soon he looked at Dou Kou''s slumped over body and wondered if he went too far, but then he remembered how Dou Kou had treated the previous Lin Ti and the guilt swiftly vanished. One of the boys looked at a certain spot on Lin Ti and couldn''t help but yell out in fear. "Ahhh! look!" Another boy pointed and yelled. "Monster!" They then quickly grabbed Dou Kou and dragged him away screaming and yelling. As they did Lin Ti felt a bit confused before he inspected himself and found that the hand he had struck Dou Kou with was broken in several places. Bone was poking through the skin as well as blood leaking everywhere. Not only that some of the muscle in his forearm and shoulder were torn. It seems his small 5 yr old body couldn''t handle all that ki that he unleashed in that punch and the consequences were a mangled arm. In his anger, he hadn''t even felt any pain, without proper control that could lead to some very dangerous situations. He had to get stronger before he could use his ki in a destructive way. Otherwise, he''d be doing nothing but healing himself, he''d never leave the house if that was the case. Very quickly Lin Ti heard his mother running from the back yard. It seems the screams from before had called her. Lin Ti didn''t want his mom to see his mangled hand so he very discretely hid it away whilst kicking some dirt over the spilled blood on the ground.He didn''t want her to see his wounds and freak out so he decided to just cover it up. He controlled his ki to set his bones back into place and to start healing his outside wounds first. He barely covered all the blood when his mother came running up to him. "LinLin what happened? are you ok? I thought I heard screaming." Lin Ti still hadn''t spoken to his parents yet so he simply gave his mother a big smile. Lara seeing his smile felt a sense of relief and her heart warmed as well. It had been a long time since she had last seen her son smile and it was good knowing that he still could. She was still a bit worried about Lin Ti so she brought him to the backyard with her while she finished her chores. Later on, while Lara was making dinner Lin Ti was nearly done healing his hand, but it was a tiring process. To absorb ki, use it all up and then reabsorb the world ki again, but he was managing somewhat. It was then that there was a banging on the door *boom boom boom* followed by a loud voice. "LARA OPEN THIS DOOR!!" The sudden noise had shocked both Lin and Lara, but before Lara could even see who was at the door, the door was immediately kicked in. "Where is he? Where is the little shit?" End of ch 3 Chapter 4|| Settled? A large man barged into the small home. This man was big, slightly over 6 ft tall with a robust look and cold piercing eyes. He released a domineering air that seemed to cover the small room. He looked straight at Lara before his glance fell onto Lin Ti. When his gaze landed on Lin Ti he quickly began to approach. "There you are you little animal." But before he got to Lin Ti, Lara quickly stepped in between them and squeezed her son tightly. "Tian Kou, what are you doing here? get away." But Tian Kou merely shouted back. "Move out of the way. That little animal injured my son, now it''s his turn." Hearing Tian Kou, Lara became frightened, but still there was no way she was gonna move away from her son, she shouted. "There''s no way LinLin hurt Dou Kou, he''s already injured himself. How could he possibly hurt Dou Kou who''s almost 3 times bigger than him." Tian Kou himself looked confused for a second. He too didn''t understand how the small injured 5 yr old Lin Ti could harm his son, but his son had told him himself and he wouldn''t lie. Tian Kou shook away useless thoughts and began to approach the two again. He grabbed Lara by her arm pushing her to the floor, it was then that someone stormed in and roared loudly. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY WIFE!!" *BOOM* Zhen Ti had rushed in and delivered a quick hook to the side of Tian Kou''s head. A look of fury evident in his eyes. *boom* Another punch landed directly onto Tian Kou''s stomach. The two immediately started to brawl in the tiny home. Lara jumped to her feet and scooped up Lin Ti running out of the house with him while shouting for help. *crack boom-thwack* Sounds of the brawl erupted in the small home whilst outside a crowd of villagers soon gathered and began to grow. Tian Kou and Zhen Ti ended up outside of the house still brawling. Punches were landing left and right, it wasn''t until the village chief arrived and shouted. "STOP!" Before multiple men grabbed the two and separated them. The chief once again yelled. "EXPLAIN NOW!" Zhen Ti was the first to start. "Chief, I came home and Tian Kou was attacking my wife and son for no reason. If I had been a minute late he would have done a lot worse." Listening to this Tian Kou couldn''t help but laugh, the chief, however, was not finding it amusing. "Tian Kou you think this is a joke. Attacking a villager is a crime you know." Tian Kou shouted back. "A joke you say, the joke is Zhen Ti''s piece of trash son, he injured mine. If he doesn''t pay today then what''s the point of rules." But the chief just shook his head. "I don''t understand, Tian, you speak of rules yet you attack someone, speak clearly." Many of the villagers were confused, as well as Lara and Zhen. They all had the same thought, Lin Ti injured Dou Kou how is that possible? Before Tian said another word though a man carried Dou Kou into the crowd. There everyone could see as plain as day the state he was in. The whole left side of the boys face was a bluish-purple color and fully swollen, the eye couldn''t even be opened. The villagers gasped in shock at the sight of him, then Tian Kou said. "See, look at what he''s done to my son. Look at his injuries. He nearly killed my son, he rightfully deserves to be punished." Many of the villagers though were not convinced, the chief included. The chief wondered. "How can you be so sure it was Lin Ti? Are there any witnesses?" It was then that Tian looked into the crowd and 3 little boys, as well as 1 small girl, stepped out, Tian said. "Those 4 there, they were with my son at the time, they witnessed it." The chief looked at the 4 children curiously and asked. "You 4 tell me the truth, was it Lin Ti who did this and if so why?" Two of the boys spoke up, but they clearly changed some facts. They said that Lin Ti provoked them for no reason and then attacked like he was a wild animal, viciously hurting Dou Kou. Most everyone looked at Lin Ti as though he were a monster except his parents and the chief of course. Meanwhile, Lin Ti stood there with a calm and indifferent expression on his face. Had his father not intervened in the house Lin Ti would have dealt with the situation, but since his dad jumped in Lin TI didn''t have a chance too. As the questioning continued the chief then asked little Mei and her brother, but the two wouldn''t say anything. They were both clearly frightened of the situation and couldn''t utter a word. Some people still weren''t completely buying it. When one of the boys saw that people weren''t believing them he remembered something. He quickly told the chief how Lin Ti had broken his hand when punching Dou Kou and that it was completely mangled, but Lara quickly refuted. "No way, if his hand were broken I would have noticed it long ago." The chief looked at the boys and the other boy quickly agreed with his friend. "Chief its true if you don''t believe us then check his hand, see for yourself if were lying." The two boys were staring at Lin Ti evilly, but Lin Ti continued to ignore them. The village chief then walked up to Lin Ti. "Lin Ti may I examine your hand?" Tian Kou shouted. "Why are you asking him for he''s an idiot. There''s no way he understands what you''re saying." But it was at this moment that Lin Ti gently placed his hand onto the chiefs silencing Tian Kou. The chief took a glance and flipped Lin Ti''s hand over and gently squeezed it. Then he began adding a bit more pressure watching Lin Ti''s face for any clue or twitch of pain. Finding nothing wrong on the surface the chief gradually gathered a bit of magic power into his palm. His hand started to glow a faint violet color. He then inspected Lin Ti with water magic and still found nothing wrong whatsoever. As a matter of fact, the hand was in pristine condition. The chief then checked the other hand just to be sure. Once again he found absolutely no problems. Lin Ti couldn''t help but smile inwardly. Had the chief checked just a few minutes ago he might have still found a bit of damage, but thanks to Lin Ti''s persistent healing there were no longer any traces or wounds left, not even a scratch. The chief looked solemn for a moment before he gently let go of Lin''s hand, he then shook his head before saying. "There''s nothing, his hands are perfectly fine." Hearing this Tian Kou couldn''t help but shout. "What?" He then quickly approached and wanted to grab Lin''s hands to check them himself, but was quickly stopped By Zhen stepping in front of him. "What are you doing? didn''t you hear the chief? he said there was nothing wrong with my son''s hands. So how could he have injured yours, hmm?" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "Get out of my way Zhen Ti I will see for myself whether or not your son is fine." "What, over my dead body." The two were just about to come to blows again when suddenly a small childish voice came from behind Zhen Ti. "Dad let him." Silence............... everyone had heard this feeble yet unfamiliar voice and everyone was shocked. Surprisingly it had come from Lin Ti, but the ones most surprised was none other than Lara and Zhen. Lara spoke with a trembling voice. "Y....yo....you spoke just now?" Lin Ti nodded his head in agreement. Lara embraced her son tightly as a stream of tears began to fall from her face everyone was completely silent. As Lara balled her eyes out and hugged her son some of the mothers in the crowd felt a bit of warmth in their hearts. They wondered how difficult life must have been for them up until this moment. Constantly worrying that their son was doomed to be a cripple and an idiot and then in what seemed like overnight their son could not only walk again, but now he spoke his first words. And they weren''t mumbled or incomprehensible but said as though he understood what was going on. This had made some of them feel overwhelmed with emotions. --------------- After a while, Lara had calmed down a bit and Tian Kou had remembered his original purpose. After all of this he was still unimaginably angry, but he was a lot more composed now and so he spoke calmly. "You said I could look as well?" Lin Ti nodded his head, looked at Tian Kou and then his father. "I did. So dad let him look." Zhen Ti was visibly shaking hearing his son''s voice for the first time. It was so cute and childish yet serious in the present situation. Zhen looked at his son for a moment and then let Tian Kou pass. As Tian Kou approached Lin Ti he was shocked at the sharp gaze that the boy gave him, as though he were looking at his soul. Tian Kou then looked at Lara and she too had a fierce gaze, like a storm hawk watching its prey, but Tian didn''t care and immediately he grabbed Lin Ti''s hand. He looked for quite some time while flipping Lin Ti''s hands back and forth, but no matter how he searched or felt he couldn''t find the slightest problem. He then wondered if his son really did lie, but if so why? After a good inspection, Tian was ready to give up. He gazed at the calm indifferent boy once again and felt as though he was being mocked and so he gave the boys hand a slight squeeze. Lin Ti didn''t even wince, he just continued to give that same piercing look. So Tian squeezed a bit harder, again no effect. Seeing this made the rage in Tian Kou reignite and so he started putting more and more pressure on Lin Ti''s hand. If he could make Lin Ti scream out in pain then that would prove that the boys weren''t lying about an injury and so he increased his grip until Lin Ti''s bones were about to snap. It was at this moment that Tian felt a strange sensation in his hand. At first it felt like a feather gently gliding over top his knuckles, a little bit of a tickle, but then it quickly became prickly like an itch. Until it felt like needles piercing the nerves all over his hand. The pain was unbearable and he quickly retrieved his hand. And like that, the pain immediately vanished. He looked around and everyone was staring at him like he was weird. He then looked back at Lin Ti and saw a piercing cold look as though his life was about to be taken at any moment. It quickly sent a cold shiver all the way down his spine, but somehow he couldn''t seem to look away. It wasn''t until the chief called out that his gaze was broken. "Well, Tian, satisfied? Were there any problems?" Tian looked at Lin Ti again as well as the crowd before softly uttering. "None." The crowd all looked at the two boys who had lied and gave them all shameful looks. Both their mothers pulled them away by their ears and disappeared into their homes. Soon some yelling, as well as some good smacks, were heard coming from them. The crowd then looked back at the chief. "Since this situation isn''t quite clear and the only witness''s were found to be lying the rest is hear-say therefore..." Hearing this Tian Kou wanted to rage again, he shouted. "But chief my son look at his injuries." But the chief roared back. "Nonsense!! There is no proof to say who or how your son was injured and besides that you barged your way into a resident''s home. Don''t think I forgot about that and you fought a fellow villager, but since you both fought I say that is settled. As for their home, any damages that you caused you will be fined and will have to pay them compensation within 30 days, that is my ruling." "But but." "That is my ruling and it is final! Now everyone disperse, go back to your homes this matter is finished. Tian I''ll come around later to heal your son so leave." After that everyone began to leave, but Tian Kou just stood there looking at his injured son. He looked at Lin Ti still covered in bandages and just couldn''t figure out how he had done it, but he was sure Lin Ti was guilty. He looked at Zhen Ti and his loving family and the anger boiled in him once more, he shouted. "Zhen Ti, don''t think you can come to work tomorrow or ever again. YOUR FIRED!!" Many of the remaining villagers looked surprised. Many didn''t know who was right or who was wrong, but to have a petty children''s fight cause someone to lose their job was too much. Being out in a small village like this in the countryside there wasn''t much work. To lose a job almost meant a death sentence out here. People had to feed their kids. Many looked at Zhen Ti with pity, but Tian Kou owned a huge farm it was his and so they had no right to say who or who couldn''t work for him. That was life out here in the country and even the chief couldn''t interfere with another man''s legal business but, to everyone''s surprise, Zhen Ti just said a few simple words. "Tian if you think I would ever work for you after all this then you truly must be crazy." And with that everyone left, some filled with anger and some filled with wild joy over their sons new talent, talking. -------------------------- Inside the small home, the place was wrecked. Holes in the walls, the only two chairs they had were broken, the small stone stove they had was crushed and the only window they had was shattered, but the husband and wife could only stare at their son with fascination and anticipation. Silently staring, just waiting for a single word to slip from their sons mouth. Lin Ti felt it to be a bit awkward so he finally just said something once again in a tiny voice perfect for a 5 yr old. "Mom, what''s for dinner?" End of ch 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 5: Lets Eat 2 weeks after the incident Zhen and Lara were finally starting to get used to Lin Ti talking. Although every time they asked their son how he could suddenly talk Lin I would simply shake his head in confusion followed by a [I don''t know] and although his parents were disappointed with such a simple answer at the same time they were filled with joy. Soon they just passed it as a miracle of sorts they simply couldn''t come up with any other explanation and besides, they were just happy to find that their son could actually speak. Originally Lin Ti wanted to come up with a better excuse saying that a mysterious saint had found him and healed him in secret, but considering the circumstances, it seemed better and easier to play the role of a child and let others fill the gaps with their own imagination that way he would neither have to come up with a story and at the same time no one could say he was lying either as long as he stuck with a [I don''t know] who would suspect a child no one. Although Lara and Zhen were both overjoyed for their now talking son they soon faced a big dilemma FOOD out in a remote village there were only a few ways to get it you could either work others fields or yours be a craftsman of some type or hunt and forage in the nearby forest working another''s field they couldn''t Tian Kou had the largest amount of land sitting on the eastern side of the village taking up nearly 15 square miles a little more than half the men in the village worked there only Tian Kou had enough land for extra field workers to be hired on because he was the wealthiest most everyone else had small farms big enough to only feed them and their families mouths no more Zhen and Lara had a small bit of land as well their land sat on the opposite side of the village on the west side right at the outskirts behind their house was a small bit of land no bigger than an acre and just past that was the forest but their land was problematic on their land grew a poisonous weed called yellow tip weed its name came from obvious reasons simply by looking the weed seemed to be normal green grass but at the tip of each plant a bright poisonous yellow displayed itself not only would these plants make you sick if you ingested them but they were tough as well normal wooden tools couldn''t damage them in the slightest and their roots ran deep nearly 4 feet so without better tools to dig them out they would continue to grow and damage whatever edible crops were nearby all the farms on the east side of the village suffered from this weed because of this no one could grow food on the east so nearly everyone from the east side worked for Tian Kou in the west therefore the option to grow food was out and Zhen couldn''t go back to Tian Kou after the incident. The other way to earn money for food is to be a craftsman Zhen Ti was a strong hard working honest man but it was already too late for him to learn any new skills for he had worked as a farmer since he was a boy it was all he knew he himself knew he wasn''t very talented or smart even if he wished to he''d never be able to be a craftsmen Lara as well all she''s known since childhood is housework, cooking, and child raising all taught by her mother and her mother before her so the only other option was to hunt or forage but hunting is not something anyone can just do take Zhen, for example, he''s big strong and faster than an average man on his feet but with a simple bow and arrow and a dagger he''s caught nothing up until now its been 2 weeks and to rely solely on foraging for vegetables and fruits wasn''t reliable if not for neighbors helping out and Zhen and Lara rationing their own food so that Lin Ti could eat then there would be nothing left but the neighbors helping had already reduced by a lot they could not continue helping forever so Zhen and Lara were now desperate With a downcast expression Lara asked. "Zhen what are we supposed to do? Its been 2 weeks and there''s nothing left to eat at this rate will starve." Zhen couldn''t stand to see his wife like this with little food between the three and most of it goes to their son Lara''s face was becoming thinner and thinner just last night while Lara put on her nightgown Zhen noticed his wife''s rib cage could now be seen more clearly he couldn''t help but curse himself inwardly [Damnit Damnit God Damn it, why can''t I catch just one rabbit or even a squirrel every time I feel I''m close all the animals elude me this is all my fault.] Zhen Ti clenched his fist tightly in anger until his nails pierced his hand, causing a bit of blood to flow he grit his teeth and said. "T... Tomorrow I''ll go back to Tian Kou and beg for my job." Lara said nothing she knew it was the only other way, but looking at her husband''s bitter face how could she not feel for him his pride as a man would be thrown away out here in the rural countryside most men didn''t have much as long as they could protect and feed their family whilst working honestly that was more than enough that was what it meant to be proud, but Zhen couldn''t even put a bite of food on the table and now had to beg for his job back from the man who tried to hurt his family how could he call himself a man from now on. Two streams of tears began to fall from Lara she felt completely helpless in this situation there was nothing she could do and it ate her up inside Zhen could only hold his wife silently while she wept into his chest. What the two didn''t know was that just outside the small house Lin Ti overheard everything with his heightened senses it would have been impossible for him not to. With a small sigh Lin Ti thought.. [Guess its time for me to get some food] and with that Lin Ti walked behind the house and headed into the forest. In the forest, there were many animal trails here and there. Although Lin Ti was strong he didn''t want to scare his parents by bringing back something big like a deer, so he opted to hunt smaller game such as rabbits.Looking at the trails he found one that seemed to be a rabbit trail and began to follow it. Along the way, Lin Ti would pick up a few small rocks, putting them in his pocket. Even though Lin Ti was fast he didn''t have the confidence to catch a rabbit on foot so he thought of another way after walking for 20 minutes Lin Ti''s ear twitched not far off maybe 200 feet in front of him Lin Ti could hear a small bush rustling closing his eyes Lin Ti focused on his hearing slowly he shut out all the other noise of the forest no more chirps or squeaks no more wind blowing and the trees whooshing no more nothing just that small bush combining his heightened sense of hearing with his soul-sense Lin Ti hear a faint heart beat he quickly determined that it was, in fact, a rabbit grabbing one of the small rocks from his pocket he grasped it in his tiny right hand squeezing it forcefully Lin Ti took aim even though his eyes still remained shut it did not matter with his soul-sense he could see clearer than his eyes ever would with a bit of his will Lin Ti circulated his ki into his shoulder arm elbow wrist hand and finally his fingers *Swoosh* with a hard throw the rock flew like an arrow into the air followed by a *Thud* and a small squeal from the rabbit quickly the sound of the heartbeat faded away as though it never existed in the first place Lin Ti slowly walked over looking into the bush he found his prize a small rabbit weighing maybe 3 lbs inspecting it further the rabbits chest could be seen sunken in from the force of the rock its ribs broke easily and its heart ruptured killing it almost instantly this may seem cruel to some but to survive things must die and be consumed it is a natural part of life. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "With this, we can eat." A small smile broke out on Lin Ti''s face picking up the rabbit Lin Ti made his way back home on the way he discovered 2 more rabbits and with the same method as before he killed and collected them by the time noon came around Lin Ti had returned from the forest stepping into his home he was immediately greeted with a panicked expression from his mom she immediately hugged him and started to cry. "Where were you we looked outside and you were just gone, don''t you know how scared and worried we were." "Mom here." Lin Ti didn''t wish to see his mom cry so he quickly pulled out the 3 rabbits, seeing them his mother and father were immediately shocked they were lost for words here they were concerned for food and their son brings it back like its nothing just what was going on Zhen was the first to recollect himself. "Lin Lin just how in the world did you get these rabbits don''t tell me you stole them." Even though Lin was a bit irritated with the accusation, it was completely understandable so he let it go instead he simply said. "I hunted them." Once again an expression of shock filled his parent''s gazes. As they looked on at their child they didn''t know how to respond. "I hunted them with these." Lin pulled out a couple of rocks from his pocket displaying the simple stones to his parents. They looked at the stones in confusion, but they both couldn''t figure out what was so special about these rocks. Were they magic stones or something, either way, they looked at them, they could only see regular stones. Seeing that his parents were still lost Lin decided to show a bit of his strength. Circulating his ki again, he aimed at the wall. "Look closely." *Swoosh* With a quick hard throw, the rock flew from his hand with an incredible speed. *Thud* The place where Lin aimed at left a small hole in the wall looking through it, you could clearly see all the way outside. More silence filled the room, but with it his parent''s jaws dropped. Seeing his parent''s reaction Lin couldn''t help but let out a sigh. He figured it would be something like this, but in order for him to not be monitored and babied he figured he needed to show them a bit of his strength that way he could be a bit more independent. However 10 minutes passed and still his parents were frozen in shock, so he gave them a little explanation he told them it was magic he knew it would work because not to be mean, but the education out in these parts was clearly limited and so their knowledge on magic was almost zero the only reference they could go by was the chief and even he was not very skilled in it after explaining it away as magic his parents sunk in thought after a while his father was the first to react with a roaring laughter. "HAHAHA my son is blessed by the gods they heal him and gift him with magic HAHA amazing, truly amazing at last we are favored." Next, his mother gave a bright smile and hugged her son again. "Thank the gods Lin Lin my special child, I love you." As the family was filled with laughter suddenly a large noise grabbed everyone''s attention. *Grumble Grumble* Looking at where it came from Zhen and Lin began to laugh harder and louder the noise was coming from the sound of Lara''s stomach growling quickly her face took on the color of an apple and she shyly stood up. "Mom." Regaining her composure Lara stuttered out. "ye...yeYes honey." "Let''s Eat!! End of Ch 5