The stench of the black impurities oozing from Kai's pores was unbearable, a mix of rotten eggs and stagnant swamp water. It was the physical manifestation of years of starvation, sickness, and poverty being purged from his system.
"Stay here, Lian. I'm going to the river behind the shrine to wash," Kai said, standing up. He felt light, incredibly light, as if gravity had loosened its grip on him.
Lian nodded, gripping her jagged rock tightly. "I'll watch the entrance."
Kai walked to the back of the ruined shrine where a small tributary of the Grey Mist River flowed. The water was freezing, but to Kai, whose body now hummed with the warmth of Qi, it felt refreshing.
He stripped off his rags and scrubbed his skin raw with sand and water. As the black grime washed away, it revealed pale but healthy skin underneath. The sores were gone. The bruises from the shopkeeper's broom had vanished without a trace. His muscles, though still lean, now held a wire-like tension, defined and compact.
He wasn't a starving boy anymore. He was a cultivator.
Drying himself as best he could with his rags, Kai sat on a flat rock by the riverbank. It was time for the fun part.
"System," he whispered. "Use the Basic Weapon Lottery Ticket."
[Ding!] [Initiating Weapon Lottery...]
A large, holographic roulette wheel appeared in his vision, spinning so fast the colors blurred into a rainbow.
'Come on,' Kai thought, his heart racing. 'In the game, the drop rates were terrible. But I have the Beginner's Luck buff... I hope.'
The wheel slowed down. It clicked past a Wooden Training Sword. It clicked past a Rusty Iron Dagger. It clicked past a Heavy Stone Axe.
It stopped on a deep, crimson icon.
[Ding!] [Congratulations! You have obtained: "Blood-Drinker's Jian" (Growth Type - Currently Mortal Grade High-Tier).]
[Description: A sword forged from Cold Iron mixed with the blood of a Spirit Beast. It is currently sealed.] [Passive Effect: "Thirst". The blade stays permanently sharp as long as it tastes blood once a week. It can evolve by absorbing the Qi of slain enemies.]
A flash of red light materialized in Kai's hand. When the light faded, he was holding a straight, double-edged sword about three feet long. The handle was wrapped in rough black leather, and the blade was a dark, dull grey, except for a single crimson line running down the center like a vein.
"A Growth Type..." Kai grinned, his eyes gleaming. "This is worth more than a thousand Spirit Stones."
In the cultivation world, weapons were graded: Mortal, Spirit, Earth, Heaven, and Divine. A Growth Type meant that if he fed it enough enemies, this piece of metal could one day become a god-killing artifact.
He slashed the air. Swish! The sound was crisp. The balance was perfect.
He dressed quickly and returned to the main hall of the shrine. When Lian saw him, her jaw dropped slightly. With the grime gone and the sword in his hand, Kai looked like a young noble who had fallen on hard times, not a beggar. His eyes were sharp, confident, and dangerous.
"Is that... a sword?" Lian whispered, eyeing the weapon with awe.
"It's our ticket to a full meal," Kai said, sheathing the sword in a makeshift loop of rope around his waist. "Let's go, Lian. We're going back to the city."
Night had fallen over Grey Mist City. The lanterns were lit in the rich districts, casting a warm glow, but the slums were plunged into darkness, illuminated only by the occasional fire barrel.
Kai walked confidently down the main muddy road of the "Rat District," the area controlled by the beggar gangs. He needed money. And in the slums, the quickest way to get money wasn't to work—it was to take it from those who had too much.
As they passed a narrow alleyway, three shadows detached themselves from the wall.
"Well, well. Look who isn't dead," a gravelly voice sneered.
Kai stopped. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The smell of cheap rice wine and rotting teeth gave it away.
It was "Rat-Tooth," a notorious thug who ran a small gang of pickpockets. He was a large man, obese but muscular, with yellow teeth filed to points. He was flanked by two skinny lackeys holding wooden clubs.
"We heard you died, Kai," Rat-Tooth said, stepping into the dim moonlight. He tapped a rusted cleaver against his palm. "But here you are. And you look... clean."
He squinted, his greedy eyes landing on the sword at Kai's waist.
"And you found a toy. Where did you steal that, you little sh*t? Give it here. Maybe I'll let you keep your fingers."
Lian stepped back, trembling. "Run, Brother... Rat-Tooth is strong. He killed Old Man Wu last week just for looking at him wrong."
Kai didn't move. He stood perfectly still, his hand hovering near the hilt of his new sword.
[Active Skill: Eye of Insight.]
[Target: Rat-Tooth] [Cultivation: Body Tempering - Stage 3 (Peak).] [Strength: 15 (Human Average is 5)] [Agility: 8] [Weakness: Left Knee (Old Injury), Arrogance.]
'Body Tempering Stage 3,' Kai analyzed calmly. 'He has the strength of three men. If he hits me, my ribs will shatter. But his agility is trash.'
"I asked you a question, rat!" Rat-Tooth roared, annoyed by Kai's silence. He swung the cleaver, signaling his lackeys. "Grab the girl. I'll skin the boy."
The two lackeys rushed forward, clubs raised.
"Close your eyes, Lian," Kai said softly.
"What?"
"Close them."
Lian squeezed her eyes shut.
In that second, Kai moved. He didn't run away. He didn't cower. He channeled the Dragon Sutra. The Qi in his dantian exploded, rushing into his legs.
Whoosh!
To the lackeys, Kai was a blur. One moment he was standing there; the next, he was inside their guard.
Kai didn't draw his sword yet. He used his elbow, reinforced with a thin layer of Qi. Crack! He slammed his elbow into the throat of the first lackey. The man gagged, dropped his club, and collapsed, clutching his crushed windpipe.
The second lackey froze in shock. Before he could react, Kai spun and kicked him squarely in the groin. The kick had the force of a battering ram. The lackey shrieked like a pig and curled into a ball.
Rat-Tooth's eyes bulged. "You... you're a Cultivator?!"
Fear flashed across the thug's face. In the slums, a Cultivator was a king. But then he saw Kai's thin frame. 'He's just a kid. He probably just learned a trick or two!'
"Die!" Rat-Tooth roared, lunging forward with his heavy cleaver. The swing was powerful, capable of chopping a table in half.
But to Kai, whose senses were heightened by the Qi Refining Stage, the swing looked like it was moving in slow motion.
'Too slow. Too wide. Too predictable.'
Kai stepped to the left, the wind of the cleaver brushing his hair. As Rat-Tooth stumbled forward from the momentum, Kai drew the Blood-Drinker's Jian.
Shing!
The blade didn't reflect the moonlight; it seemed to absorb it. Kai didn't aim for the head. He aimed low. With a fluid, surgical motion, he slashed the blade across the back of Rat-Tooth's left knee—the weakness revealed by the System.
"ARGHHH!"
The hamstring was severed instantly. Rat-Tooth's leg gave out, and he crashed onto the mud, screaming in agony. The cleaver flew from his hand.
Kai walked over calmly and kicked the cleaver away. He stood over the sobbing, terrified gang leader. The Blood-Drinker's Jian hummed in his hand, the red line on the blade glowing faintly as it tasted the fresh blood on its edge.
"You... please..." Rat-Tooth blubbered, snot and tears mixing on his face. "I have money! I have silver! Take it! Just don't kill me! I work for the Black Dog Gang! If you kill me, they will hunt you—"
Kai's expression didn't change. It was cold. Indifferent. It was the face of an Emperor looking at a bug.
"You bullied me for years," Kai said softly. "You stole Lian's food. You beat Old Man Wu to death."
He raised the sword.
"In this life, I don't leave threats behind to come back and bite me."
Slash.
The screaming stopped abruptly.
[Ding!] [Enemy Defeated: Rat-Tooth (Body Tempering Stage 3).] [Experience Gained.] [Weapon Passive Activated: The Blood-Drinker's Jian has absorbed Blood Qi. (Progress to Evolution: 1/100).]
Kai flicked the blood off his sword and sheathed it. He felt no guilt. No nausea. In the game, he had ordered the slaughter of digital armies. In this world, it was kill or be killed.
He crouched down and searched Rat-Tooth's body. He found a heavy pouch hidden in the thug's sash.
[Item Obtained: 15 Silver Coins, 40 Copper Coins.] [Item Obtained: Low-Grade Body Tempering Pill (Damaged).]
"Open your eyes, Lian," Kai said.
Lian opened her eyes. She saw the bodies. She saw the blood. Her face went pale, and she put a hand over her mouth. But she didn't run. She looked at Kai, standing amidst the carnage, untouched and calm.
"Did... did you kill them?" she whispered.
"I removed the trash," Kai corrected her. He tossed the coin pouch to her. It was heavy. "This is enough for a week at an inn, new clothes, and hot food. Take it."
Lian caught the pouch, her hands shaking. She looked at the dead Rat-Tooth, the man who had been the nightmare of their childhood, now nothing more than a lump of meat in the mud.
She looked back at Kai, and the fear in her eyes slowly turned into something else. Worship.
"Are you hungry?" Kai asked, wiping a speck of dirt from his robe.
Lian nodded vigorously.
"Good," Kai smiled, and for the first time, it reached his eyes. "Let's go eat. I'm craving roast duck."
As they walked away, leaving the bodies for the slum rats, Kai checked his System interface.
[Current Objective: Establish a Foundation.] [New Quest Available: "The Alchemist's Debut".] [Quest Description: Sell a potion of at least "Mid-Grade" quality to a merchant.] [Reward: Alchemy Hall Upgrade + Blueprint for "Explosive Qi Pill".]
Kai touched the pouch of silver in his pocket. 15 Silver. It was a fortune for a beggar, but pennies for a Cultivator. To buy the herbs he needed for the next stage of his plan, he needed Gold.
"Tomorrow," Kai thought as the lights of the restaurant district appeared ahead. "Tomorrow, Grey Mist City will learn the name of its new master."