Stuck in a Chinese novel-Chapter 462: Where...?

Shaa!!!

A cold bucket of water was poured on him, and his eyes opened swiftly, abruptly feeling the coldness of the water against his skin, and in the shivering cold weather, that move was even more deadly than ever.

"Hahahahaha!!!"

Yet, all he could do was endure. At the hands of his tormentors, all he could do was endure all the cruelty they showered him with. All because...

"Why are your clothes wet, Kang Shim?" A sickly pale woman with sunken cheeks asked him.

Kang Shim, a boy no more than twelve, smiled and replied, "I just fell in the river, mother."

His simple reply was the end of it. It wasn't like his mother believed him, but she didn't want to push her burdens onto him as well. Asking him about the cruelty that he was going through because of her was just reminding him of what he went through every day.

He should be allowed some reprieve at home at least.

That was the sole reason his mother was willing to drop it. Because even if she didn't, it wasn't like the end result would change in any way. She still wouldn't be able to help her son.

Her son would still not be able to escape his weak self.

So, to maintain things as they were, she decided to just remain quiet. She chose to ignore her son's pain so he could forget about it for a while he was at home.

They both decided to run away from reality.

"Pwah!" He washed his face and gasped at the refreshing feeling. The warm water soothed his skin, completely opposite of the cruel weather outside.

'If only I were stronger...' He lamented his own weakness. It wasn't like he wasn't given a chance to be strong. Just because of his mother, it didn't change his bloodline. He was still his father's son, the son of the emperor, although he was half blood since his mother wasn't even a concubine but someone his father forced himself on.

Still, the blood of the emperor flowed through him, and the guardian of the imperial family acknowledged him and granted him power, a chance to grow strong with the rest of the members of the imperial family.

If not for only one thing...

"Acckk!!!" He retched. He emptied the contents of his stomach on the platform. Opposite him was his older brother, his half-brother to be more accurate, a shocked expression on the brother's face as he saw a hole in his stomach.

It was just one strike. In just one strike, the battle between a man who had been in training for ten years and a boy who had just held the sword ended.

He won. A child won against an adult, in one move no less, and that one move was so lethal that the crown prince, the elder brother, almost lost his life that day.

A never-before-seen talent.

That was how the boy was addressed.

However, to the empress, he was no more than a boy who was there to snatch the position of her child. So she did what any mother would have done. She supported her child.

"If you ever lifted the sword ever again, I will kill your mother." She looked down at the boy and said, while the boy sat beside his mother with a horrified expression on his face, as she coughed blood.

After that day, let alone picking up a sword, he never even performed basic exercises properly. But that wasn't the main reason at all. Just because he was threatened, he wouldn't have done so. Given his value, it wouldn't have been easy to have his mother killed.

What made him weak was...

'It hurts.' He thought as he looked at his hands. At the very hands that were bloodied the day he ripped a hole in his brother's abdomen.

The sight of blood not only gave him nightmares, but it also made him weak in battle. Just the smell of it made him dizzy, and he wouldn't be able to move his body no matter what he did.

That day was the first and the last day he ever swung a sword.

But that too ended one day.

"Mo-Mother..." He couldn't believe what he was seeing. There she was, his mother, lying on the soft blankets she always was, her eyes closed, and a peaceful smile on her face.

But even from far away, he couldn't detect a sign of life. He didn't want to believe it, but he had to. He had to face the cruel reality.

His mother was dead.

In her hands was a letter. On the letter, written in her own blood, was, "I have stopped holding you back, my dear son."

"NOO!!!"

~~

"Kaugh!!!"

Wei Jun opened his eyes with a loud gasp as he sat up, taking deep breaths. In and out, he had difficulty taking breaths, but he managed to calm himself in the end.

"Kugh!"

He clutched his chest tightly as it stung with a sharp pain. Wei Jun tried to cope with it, but it was showing no signs of lessening one bit.

He endured, endured, endured, and endured until finally, the pain ended while he remained in the same spot for about half a day. After he was done, he took a few more deep breaths to erase the feeling and stood up.

Upon standing up, the first thing Wei Jun witnessed was a village in the distance.

'Where the hell am I?' Wei Jun asked inwardly.

Prior to waking up, he remembered being hit by the evil boss's skill that had damaged his body greatly. Since he was the closest one and the target, only he had taken most of the damage, so the others were relatively safe, but Wei Jun had a hunch they wouldn't be for long.

But now, he was there. In a strange place where nothing even close to the battle scene he was involved in could be seen. There was only a dilapidated village in the distance, and a heavy atmosphere that was as grim as it could be.

"System." Wei Jun called out, the only entity that could answer any of his questions, but...

"..."

Nothing.

"System."

"Status."

"Quest."

"System."

"System."

Even after waiting for an hour and trying again and again, no response ever came. Finally, after an hour, Wei Jun gave up and made his way to the village. He didn't know what it was about, but he needed to get it over with anyway.

The only clue was the village nearby, so that was a good starting point. Besides, he had a feeling that whatever was happening, although a little strange, was in his favor.

Wei Jun arrived at the village but...

"Shooo~~"

Empty. The entire village was empty. It wasn't like he couldn't sense presences. There were people in the village, just too scared and hidden.

"And I have a feeling what they fear is you." Wei Jun said as he looked at a shriveled man whose hair had fallen off, and all the flesh on his body was rotting. It was moving a lot like his skill he obtained from the elder dark dragon, Guardian, but there was one difference between that creature and his skill.

"What was the last time you showered?" Wei Jun asked as even though he had to cover his nose to block the stench.

"Gooo..."

"GAAAHHH!!!"

Suddenly, as if charged by adrenaline, the humanoid being ran towards Wei Jun from a calm and lazy attitude to the vicious attitude of an animal.

Wei Jun stepped to the side to avoid it. Although it was a lot weaker than Wei Jun, he had a feeling that getting familiar with the attack patterns of the monster would benefit him more than simply killing it.

Wei Jun moved to the other side and then another. Each time he dodge the attack of the humanoid monster that either attacked him with its bony fingers that were as sharp as talons, enough to even cut rocks and its teeth that also seemed sharp but since the monster hadn't been able to properly demonstrate its bite power, Wei Jun couldn't compare it with anything else.

'The oozing green liquid from its body isn't poison. Is it infectious?' Wei Jun was, however, wary of the oozing green liquid from the creature's body.

Finally, after about ten minutes of dodging, Wei Jun decided to deal with the monster. He took off his jacket and tore it up. Although the armor effect could only be activated with the full suit, that wasn't the priority right now.

He only took the right arm of the jacket and wrapped it around his fist. Now that he wouldn't get green liquid upon hitting the creature, Wei Jun didn't hold back and planted his feet firmly into the ground, giving the creature a low upper cut and...

Thaa!!!

With a loud bang, the creature exploded, its head decapitated, and Wei Jun was covered in the green, slimy liquid that smelled worse than a thousand-year-old dead fish.

The only reason he didn't barf was...

[Slaughter of the East's power has been detected]

[Consumption in progress]

[You have ...]

[...]

[.]