Chapter 7: Is everyone taking stupid pills around here?
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Another prisoner Wen Chong spoke from the other side of the cell. "He might be Demon-Touched…."
Bao Zi shook his head. "No… no… earlier he was clicking the air. Now he's praying. I don't know what's wrong with him."
Yin Zhe ignored all of them. He didn't even hear them.
His focus was on the wheel spinning inside the system space.
Tick… tick… tick…
He shut his eyes tight. "Please… please… just give me something good," he whispered. "I don't believe in gods but I believe in luck… I believe in something out there. Just give me a chance."
He lifted his head and stared at the system screen again.
The pointer had started to slow down. Even the wheel begun to slow. The sound shifted from tick to click.
Click… click… click…
It looked like it was about to land on Active.
Yin Zhe gasped. His eyes widened. A small smile tugged at his lips. "tsk.. yes… yes… please…"
The pointer slowed even more.
It touched the Active section.
It looked like it was about to stop.
Then suddenly.
The carriage rolled over a bump on the Rough road.
THUD!!!
The entire cell shook from the impact. Carriage bouncing up cursing the woods to groan.
Everyone's bodies bounced slightly from the impact.
The wheel inside Yin Zhe's system shook with the same timing.
The pointer jerked.
"Wait— wait— WAIT— NO!" Yin Zhe shouted.
The pointer slipped out of Active.
It slid into Reactive.
The sound it made felt like a soft punch to the chest.
click!!!.
Yin Zhe's smile shattered.
"What— why— HOW—?!" he shouted. His voice cracked. His shoulders trembled. "No— no— no— that's not— that's not fair! Sub— sub—!"
He grabbed his head with both hands.
His fingers tangled in his own hair as frustration poured out of him.
He kicked the wooden floor. thud!
Then he slapped the bars. thud!
Yin zhe banged his forehead against the side of the cell. thud! thud! thud!
Bao Zi covered his face. "Brother… please stop. You're scaring me…"
One of the other prisoners Tian Zuo whispered, "He's gone. His mind is broken."
Wen Chong muttered, "He's not normal. Something is wrong inside him."
Yin Zhe let out an angry "Hpmh!!" and kicked again. Thud!!!. "Why?! Why?! Why do I always get the short end of the stick?!"
Yin Zhe looked like a guy wrestling invisible ghosts. His arms flailed they felt weak. Even his legs felt like spaghetti as his knees hit the floor with a loud thud!!!.
He pushed the air as if trying to grab the wheel and force it back.
Everyone watched him like he was the strangest thing they had ever seen.
All four of them in the cell, except Yin Zhe, shared the same confused frightened stares.
They didn't understand anything he was doing.
Then suddenly. The atmosphere rippled. And the presence of a new eight stage of the spirit awakening realm was felt. Everyone turned their heads as Ren Tie's voice cut through the noise.
"Silence"
It was evident that Ren Tie had broken through because of the frustration.
Ren Tie's shout tore through the wooden cage like a crack of lightning.
The whole carriage shook again from the heavy bump on the dirt road, thud… thud… thud, but the sound of Ren Tie's voice was louder than all of it. His face glowed like a lantern in the dark, and a faint pulse of energy wrapped around his body, buzzz!!!. like sparks dancing on dry wood.
He had broken through.
He fully reached the 8th stage of the Root Awakening realm.
Wen Chong gasped first after realizing this. His voice came out shaky. "what the… h-how… you really broke through?. In a crappy place like this?. While being Inside a wooden cage?" He pressed both hands against his chest like his heart was trying to jump out. "Ren Tie… you… you're something else… a true genius"
The others stared with wide eyes. Even Bao Zi had frozen like someone paused with a remote.
But Yin Zhe?.
Tsk... Yin Zhe didn't even glance at Ren Tie's breakthrough glow.
He kept banging his forehead against the bars in pure frustration.
thud!!.
thud!!.
thud!!.
The wheel pointer had stopped at the wrong place.
"sob… why… why is my luck like this…" he whispered. His voice sounded like it came from someone who had lost his last hope in the world.
He sighed hard. "sigh…"
Then he hit the bars again. "Hpmh… I swear my life is really cursed…. I am... I truly am... A curse!!!."
Meanwhile, Ren Tie sat straight inside his small wooden cell as the faint glow faded back into him. The air felt intense for a brief moment, like it carried a new type of aura. His expression stayed calm, but his breathing was heavy. Like Ren Tie was out of breath.
Wen Chong stepped closer to his own bars. "Ren Tie… you're a real genius. I mean it. I've been stuck at the fifth stage for almost half a year. I'm talking about Half a year! I thought I would stay there forever…" He lowered his head and let out a weak laugh. "Compared to you, I'm nothing…"
Ren Tie lifted his hand slowly and waved him off. "Don't downgrade yourself."
Wen Chong blinked. "Eh…?"
Ren Tie spoke again, his voice low and controlled, like someone who had lived through storms. "Everyone has their own unique path. If you admire my path too much, then your own path won't have any meaning." He rested his back against the wooden planks. "You can't abandon your path for mine. This is the rule of the great path. Although the matter about the great path doesn't concern us as low level cultivators. Just keep that in mind for the future"
His tone felt heavy and deep filled with wisdom.
The kind of tone that made even the weakest person think of his destiny passionately.
The other captives felt something rise in their hearts after the speech. They felt like they had just had an apifiny. Their eyes moved as if the entire world had just widened in one breath.
Tian Zuo muttered, "So… each path belongs to the person walking it…"
Bao Zi whispered, "I never thought about it that way."
Wen Chong had placed a hand on his chest and said, "If you admire someone too much, you forget who you are…" he felt like he had realized something big.
For a brief moment. Everywhere was quiet. silence filled the cells. It was something like quiet understanding.
Bao Zi held the bars of his cell tightly, his forehead resting on the wood. "One must choose their own path…" he whispered to himself. "I… I understand now…"
Yin Zhe slowly turned his head. He's eye were white out of frustration. The vein on his forehead twitched. He stared at them with white eyes and a blank expression. His left eyebrow twitched.
Then he muttered under his breath, "Are these people really serious…?"
He looked at Ren Tie. Then he shifted his attention to Wen Chong. And over to Bao Zi. Lastly he stared at Tian Zuo.
They all had faces filled with enlightenment.
As if they had just touched some ancient truth or secret. They were acting As if Ren Tie had spoken the secrets of heaven.
Yin Zhe stared harder. In his head he screamed:
"These people are idiots!!!... How dare they say that something is wrong with me when they look like they got enlightenment from such a crap spoken by a co-prisoner"
He dropped his forehead gently against the bars and exhaled.
"damnit…"
He rubbed the spot he had been hitting for minutes.
"Is everyone taking stupid pills around here?" he whispered.