810: "Innocent"

"Innocent"

**It might be confusing to differentiate which dialogue is from the memory and which is the present Jin Wang's narration so everything in [brackets like these] will be from the memory from now on.** 0

Jin Wang let out a doleful sigh, recalling a past that he barely even remembered himself.

"That is the only memory I have of the place I was born in. It was called the 'Celestial Seminary' and was home to numerous rare and unique beasts that were hunted for their abilities or body parts. My father was one of the eight protectors of the Seminary and one of the only three to survive the massacre that happened that day."

"In the few history books that might still exist today, this would be known as the beginning of the Desolate Era, the 'Bloodletting'. Every era ended and started with one."

A new memory started playing as soon as he finished.

The next scene started atop the highest tower in a grey city.

Tall floating stone buildings manned by several meter-tall warriors many of which were half human and half, well, something else, lined the horizon. Most of their features were hidden underneath the armor save for a few tails and horns.

A 20 something-year-old boy sat in the tallest of the stone towers, sighing as he peered outwards at the neverending rows of identical grey buildings on the ground.

[Damn it, this is so fucking boring!] he muttered dispiritedly.

The grand priestess instantly spoke up, "You."

This time it was a statement rather than a question but Jin Wang still nodded.

"My family moved to the outer edges of the known worlds after the attack on the Celestial Seminary, along with all the other poor souls that were left without a home. Following our departure, it was just one big let down after another but after wandering through the endless darkness for nearly a decade, we found a somewhat hospitable planet."

"I say "somewhat" because it was covered in thunder clouds throughout the year and had occasional acid rains, just to spice things up. Not to mention the local creatures were not very fond of our fleshy bodies."

The scene changed again. Jin Wang had 'escaped' from the stone tower and was running across the ocean of argentine rooftops.

"My father had locked me up because he didn't want me to get in any trouble when the 'Blessed Envoys' were paying us a visit," he looked up to meet the grand priestess's blank gaze, realizing she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Oh, um 'Blessed Envoys' were the lackeys of this group of assholes that called themselves the "New Gods". It was the first time I was hearing about them but my father said they were powerful and we needed their assistance if we were to survive out here."

The scene changed for an instant, showing numerous shadowy figures standing behind an army of well-armed men.

"Unfortunately they didn't see it that way. To these new hotshots, we were either just cannon fodder or if lucky, a potential source of worship in which case we would be never free from their grasp."

"But my father didn't know that at the time and welcomed them into our home with open arms. He wasn't aware that if we didn't agree to their outrageous terms, they were ordered to kill us on the spot."

The scene changed back to Jin Wang running across the rooftops under the heavy rain.

"But if not for those assholes, I wouldn't have met these two dipshits either."

A genial smile had unknowingly crept upon his face and as soon as he said the words, the younger version of him came to a stop near the first layer of city walls. He looked down towards a small crowd gathered around a platoon of guards and a couple of hoodlums.

One of the hoodlums was a frail-looking teenager with a rusted sword on his back and arms wrapped in bandages. The other was a slightly older young man, in his mid to late twenties by the looks of it, covered in various battle scars.

The teenager looked like he hadn't eaten anything for a few weeks and could fall over any second but, seeing as he stood straight as an arrow against the platoon commander that was a Profound Level expert and the scarred young man, he probably wasn't that simple.

The teenager was singlehandedly keeping the platoon commander at bay while trying to reason with him, [Sir, please calm down. We are only here to help, I apologize if it came across any other way.]

His naive smile could fool anyone unless one looked at his motionless body that was holding back a top-level Profound Realm Expert and an entire platoon of soldiers that were not that much weaker.

He didn't or rather couldn't be moved an inch as he attempted to explain himself.

Jin Wang let out another hollow chuckle, pointing at the teenager's face.

"Little did I know that this pure-looking dumbass right here would one day be known throughout the ten worlds as the 'Sovereign of Swords'. The undisputable sword genius that rose from absolutely nothing and managed to reach one of the High Heavens."

"He laid the foundation for numerous dynasties throughout the Desolate Era, some of which still stand today. But I doubt any of them even remember the person who made all that possible."

[If you could please get us a meeting with the city lord I assure you, you will be rewarded greatly], he offered another olive branch which was slapped away by the incensed platoon commander who was staring daggers at the other, scarred young man.

[You! What the hell did you say to me?] the platoon commander pointed his weapon at the scarred young man.

The scarred man brought his pinky finger up to his ear and shook it wildly, his expression one of pure annoyance.

[Aha, this is what I get. I told you we should have just gone straight to the city lord. This shit for brains Lizzard fucktard thinks he's all that just cause we talked to him first.]

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