Re-Chapter Four

New World

In a small wooden cabin hidden in the dense forestry

“Let’s try out this Chi thingy shall we?” Kiryu smirked.

Just as he was about to delve into the mysteries of the ancient looking book, he felt a sudden tug in his chest.

In an instant, a searing pain coursed through his entire body and within the blink of an eye, he felt unstable on his feet and crashed into the ground.

Sfx Crash!

“Argh!!~” Kiryu grunted In pain as he rolled on the ground.

He gripped his chest with one hand while the other desperately scratched at his throat, seemingly trying to get something out.

This sensation was so overwhelming, it made him feel miserable and helpless.

His throat was parched and dry as the sahara desert, a drop of water would be his salvation.

The very veins that coursed through his very body was scorching hot, as if it was lava instead of blood.

Every muscle in his body convulsed and tugged, causing him to wince in pain with every movement he made.

Kiryu shot his gazes throughout the cabin with his bloodshot eyes, trying to find something to sooth his pain.

Instead of getting better, the pain only got worse over time.

His chest heaved with every breath, something surged up to the back of his throat and he forcibly swallowed it back down.

As soon as he did that, a metallic taste spread through the insides of his mouth.

As Kiryu struggled and wormed on the ground, a rattling sound sounded out and he immediately stopped.

Sfx Clink! Clank!

‘Fuck! How could I forget!’

He gritted his teeth and reached for his chest pocket, pulling out a metallic case, he forcibly opened the lid and as he trembled, a red pill rolled onto the ground.

He crawled painstakingly to the pill and forced it down his throat and after what seems to be an eternity, the pain gradually died down.

Kiryu gasped helplessly for air as he laid on the cold wooden floor, reaching for the metal casing once again, he lifted it high up above his head and stared straight at it.

During the past five years, this unknown condition of his actually worsened but he did not know what had caused it.

Even the doctors and scientists at the Organization proved useless as they didn’t have an accurate diagnosis.

The duration as to when the weird illness acts up shortened considerably over time and if modern technology couldn’t cure it, nothing probably would.

But one fateful day, Mai had cut her finger by accident and when Kiryu sucked on her finger, a pleasant sensation spread throughout his entire body.

Right after, the supposed time as to when the illness was acting up actually prolonged for some unknown reason.

Kiryu spoke to Mai about it and she gave him a suggestion, allowing him to suck on her blood periodically.

Since both of them are killers, she actually solidified her blood into pills privately using unknown means.

He had searched online and had once suspected his illness having something to do with clinical vampirism but his condition defers from what was written there.

Why not try tasting the blood of others instead of Mai, of course Kiryu had thought of that but men and women alike his body rejected the blood of others. The taste was simply horrid and it made him feel like he was chewing on a piece of rotten carcass.

Without a damn clue on what his condition was, he simply shoved the thought away and carried on with his life.

Snapping back into reality, after Kiryu regulated his breathing. He pried himself off the ground and picked up the ancient looking book.

Looking at the cover of the book, “Chi Cultivation Manual” written in bold ancient Chinese characters.

The strokes were gentle and graceful yet radiating such power.

Without giving much though, he flipped open the manual and skimmed through and as he looked through, a myriad of expressions was written on his face.

Curiosity, excitement, surprise, shocked and many others.

“Maybe this will increase my strength..” Kiryu muttered inwardly as he recalled the previous fight.

He felt that he was too weak, the enemies and targets he encountered before was considerably weaker than him but as soon as he met an expert like Wei Xing.

His overconfidence almost caused his downfall, every blow of his was countered and forced into the downwind during the exchange.

Without managing to cause a scratch on Wei Xing, he was sent retreating bloody and battered. There may be foes that are far greater than Wei Xing in the future and if he couldn’t even graze a single hair on Wei Xing, there was very little chance that he would escape with his life much less protect the people he holds dear.

Assassination tasks are divided by ranks from F, E, D, C, B, A, AA, S, SS and SSS. Wei Xing was merely a rank F. Assassins are also divided by the same ranks so after he killed Wei Xing, he would be promoted into a rank F assassin.

But his strength couldn’t be compared to a rank F since he caught Wei Xing off guard during the exchange and even resorted to dirty tricks, not that he minded it though.

“I need to get stronger!” A fire of determination rose within Kiryu as he punched the ground with his clenched fist, his eyes shone with determination.

Looking back at the manual, he noticed that the pages are made of gold, this was very strange but he did not put much thought into it.

Because he could only make out the first part of the manual, the rest was just gibberish scribbles to him.

As instructed, he sat in a cross legged position and shut both of his eyes.

‘Empty your mind, feel your surroundings, feel the life..’ Kiryu thought those phrases were very vague but he still followed it.

Inhaling through the nose and exhaling out the mouth, he slowly emptied out his thoughts and felt for the surroundings.

For the first thirty minutes, he couldn’t help but think of waffles so he slapped himself in the face and resumed.

Focusing more on the task, he started to seep into a meditative trance and felt for the surroundings.

Slowly but surely, he could feel an intriguing sensation from external sources.

Five minutes.. Ten minutes.. Forty minutes..

The weird sensation grew over time, he was solely focused on the task before him, completely ignoring whatever that was going on outside.

‘Fire balls?’

As the weird sensations grew, some actually changed into a corporeal form resembling a golden fireball.

Just as he noticed orbs of different colours drifting in mid-air, he broke out of the weird state and snapped back to reality.

He could feel a weird aura surrounding the orbs, power.. Yes, they contained power within them and instinctively, he wanted to absorb them.

Instead of getting frustrated, he simply jumped right back into a meditation and tried once more.

‘Come to papa..’ Kiryu mumbled.

Under his words, the orbs seemed to be sentient and had actually move a little closer to him but floated away.

‘Come..Come..Come..’

Repeatedly willing his thoughts, he tried to lure in the floating orbs and they moved even closer and stopped right before him.

‘Come..Come..’

Once again moving closer, almost into contact with his skin, the orbs escaped once more.

Without giving up, he repeatedly chanted and willed the same thoughts to entice the multi-coloured orbs.

But time after time, they just wouldn’t enter his body.

Breathing a sigh of frustration, he gathered his thoughts and his mind churned for ideas and a light bulb appeared right above his head figuratively.

‘Instead of luring them in, can we go to them?’

This seemed like a perfect idea but almost instantly, he rejected the idea.

There was no way for him to move, he was in a meditative state so he was in a stand still position, there was absolutely no way for him to move.

A golden fireball represented Kiryu himself, he was slightly larger than the other fireballs so if he can’t move physically, why don’t he attempt moving the fireball.

‘Move.. Move..’

As he willed his thoughts, the fireball expanded to where he wanted but only for a short while just like extending a limb.

‘Well, this would work, probably.’

‘C’mon.. Come.. Come..’

Just as the orbs floated in his range, his fireball extended and swallowed the orbs.

He could feel a warm sensation coursing through his body, along his veins and gathering into his solar plexus.

Like a small boat floating on a lake, the orb acted like a boat and sailed along the lake which is represented by his veins or what seemed to be his veins.

Before he noticed it, he repeated this meditation until sun rise.

Kiryu had managed to absorb a portion of the colourful orbs into himself but most of it escaped right after but this was not the first time for him.

During the past year, he would occasionally notice a few of those orbs floating around but as he rubbed his eyes, they were gone instantly.

So he brushed away the thoughts thinking he was either hallucinating or daydreaming.

‘What the.. How long did I spend meditating.. The sunlight had already shone up to my bum..’

Shocked that it was sunrise, he thought inwardly and felt his body.

Patting and poking the streamlined body that he had for years, Kiryu tried to feel for any changes but didn’t feel any.

As soon as he stood up, he fell back onto the ground unable to feel anything in his legs, probably numbed from the loss of blood while he was in a trance.

Picking up the ancient manual, he flipped through it again and was surprised to find out he could read what he thought was scribbles.

His eyes grew wide as he read, he had found out the fireballs was actually akin to life. They represent the Inner Chi or Inner Energy within a living thing.

While the fireballs represented Inner Energy, the orbs represented the Xuan Energy also known as Nature’s Energy.

There was also ranks written in the manual but only four were made known to him.

Mainly, Martial Devotee, Martial Elite, Martial Master, Martial God.

Martial Devotee and Martial Elite was coloured in black while Martial Master and Martial God retained the gold colour.

‘Maybe I have reached Martial Elite?’

Turning to the next page, it is written that Martial Devotee refers to someone that treads on the Path Of War or Martial Arts.

Martial Elite are people that can feel for the surrounding Chi and cultivate it for one’s use.

Martial Master is someone is adept in the use of Chi and is able to expulse the Inner Chi.

Martial Gods are people that are capable of both the use of Chi and expulsion of the Inner Chi, this is the final stage that prepares them before they ascend to a whole new world.

Kiryu was shocked at the revelation, he had never heard of anything like this.

He could feel his blood boiling up with excitement, a smile crept up his face as he imagines his future endeavours.

‘Ahh!’ Kiryu snapped his fingers as he recalled an important fact.

Rushing to the hidden compartment where Wei Xing kept hidden, he crouched down.

He didn’t have a card to stab into the crack so instead, he punched the floorboard and punctured a decent sized opening.

He couldn’t recall the password and sighed in resignation.

Glancing over the lock, he keyed in random numbers and digits. As the lock kept rejecting his password, he inserted more force behind each press.

Smoke started to emit from the safe and right before the thoughts of destruction and rage clouded his mind, the lock emitted several sounds.

Sfx Toot! Toot! Chink! Ka-chik!

Surprisingly, the safe unlocked itself and Kiryu in a moment of excitement, pushed the door open.

His eyes turned into dollar signs as he laid his gaze onto the contents, before him was stacks of rolled up bills.

Kiryu, being a kind saint, took everything for safekeeping lest it gets stolen.

‘Alas.. I’m such a nice person!’ Kiryu placed a palm over his face and thought inwardly with a bitter grin.

Noticing a small bundle wrapped in a yellow handkerchief, he picked it up and unwrapped it revealing a jade ring.

He had no clue as to what uses it had and placed it on his thumb since it was too big for him, after searching every nook and cranny of the safe house.

Making sure that there isn’t any other safes and hidden compartments and pulled out his phone.

Sfx Tap! Tap!

Dialling a number, he placed the phone next to his ear and spoke.

“Address XXXX. Code name, Demon”

After finishing his brief sentence, Kiryu slipped the phone back into his pocket and walked out of the cabin.

In the Organization, they had provided a number for all assassins to dial after performing their tasks.

This particular number belongs to an Organization called ‘Cleaners’, and just like their name implies, their job is to clean.

But what do cleaning have to do with Organizations like the Black Snake?

The answer is simple, yes, their profession is to clean but not cleaning the things you would think of normally.

The job they undertake is to clean up the crime scenes, to ensure no evidence is left behind and that is their profession.

Truth to be told, a part of the forty percent from Assassination Tasks are paid to the Cleaners Organization to clean up the scene.

If there is a motto that everyone lives by, the Cleaners live by the motto. ‘Leave no evidence behind.’

Because their job is done so swiftly and perfect, many known organizations like Black Snake have used their services.

Even though they are cleaners, no one has the guts to mess with anyone that belongs to the Cleaners Organization because they are also dangerous.

A renowned mercenary team called the Wolf Heads used the services of the Cleaners but refused to pay up and in a single night.

Their whole mercenary team had been decimated and cleaned up so perfectly that no one could find out who had done it but deep inside.

Everyone knows that the Cleaners had done the deed and that was why no one dares to mess with them.

Mess with them and you’ll be cleaned up next.

After walking outside, Kiryu was shocked.

Although all five senses of his had been enhanced both physically and chemically, he was practically a super human.

But as soon as he stepped out of the cabin, he could see and hear further than before.

He could see and even hear the ant from ten meters away from him, the sounds were delivered to him crisp and clear.

His eyes lit up that instant and without any hesitation, he tried running, jumping and punching.

Every fist he threw out sliced the wind and emitted a faint sound, he could run further, jump higher and punch harder.

This was such an amazing and worthwhile trip!

“Amazing.. Almost every aspect of my body was enhanced..” He muttered as he admired his new found strength.

But all of this also meant one thing, if he was able to achieve this incredible feat, it meant that others can too.

He had realized how weak he was, he was just a single drop of water in the ocean, like the saying goes. There is always a mountain higher than the other[ 1 ].

Upon the realization, it fuelled his determination to get stronger, to mow down anyone that obstructs his way, to eliminate anyone that endangers the people around him.

Glancing at the corpse next to him, he clicked his tongue with disdain and walked over.

Pulling out a butterfly knife, he decapitated Wei Xing and threw him into the cabin.

Covering Wei Xing’s bloodied head in a black bundle, he got on Spider and hung the bundle by the throttle.

With a single tap on his phone, the sound of an explosion can be heard in the far distance as he rode away.

In the Black Snake Organization

“Here, all three proof of deeds..” Kiryu handed three black bundles over to a scar faced man.

Unwrapping the contents, he exposed three bloodied body parts mainly a severed hand with a tattoo, a tooth and Wei Xing’s bloody head.

Scarface didn’t flinch from the bloody scene, he simply nodded and spoke.

“Go retrieve your award..”

As Kiryu closed the door behind him, Scarface started dialling a number on his phone.

“Yes..Yes my lord, he had completed all three missions.” Unlike the rude tone he had before, Scarface spoke with both respect and fear.

“Yes, we have been feeding them the same dosage..”

“Umm.. The Death Stalking Snake coiled up to his elbows, shall we stop feeding him?”

“Yes my lord, I shall let my men know. What Mai? The girl who is always with him?”

“Okay, I’ll let my men know, I’ll tell them to increase the dosage for her..”

“Yes my lord, have a nice day.”

After hanging up the phone, Scarface smashed it heavily on the desk.

“You’ll regret having me as your right hand man..” His cold eyes flashed a trace of hatred as he spoke.

Outside the room.

Kiryu stood there without any expression on his face, his tundra cold eyes radiating deathly chills.

Ever since he had left the cabin, his hearing had been enhanced and everything within a ten to fifteen meter radius can be heard crystal clear.

Including the conversation Scarface had with the leader of the Organization.

Without saying a word, Kiryu walked down the hallway.

In Kiryu’s room

A single light bulb dangled from the cemented ceiling, four walls of concrete and a simple cot place by the side.

Kiryu’s room was plain and simple, he did not require any extravagance. As long as he had Mai, he didn’t really need anything.

Thinking about what he had overheard, he pulled up his long sleeves.

‘So this is the death stalking snake huh..’

A black snaked coiled up to his elbows like Scarface had said, probably a side effect for the poison..

‘Despicable..’ Kiryu cursed under his breath.

Using a little logical thinking, he could make out that members of the Organization was probably poisoned because of loyalty.

Loyalty is a huge issue so Kiryu could understand the usage of poison. With poison, they could bound them to the Organization forever and also attain their utmost subservience.

First, to force the members to submit and pledge their allegiance to the Black Snake, there was no way they could have been poisoned since they were always on the move.

This led to another thought, what if they had fed the members poison through food, members are required to have their food at the headquarters. This was a weird fact but no one spoke about it, now that Kiryu thinks about it, the pieces started adding up.

Because the members grow up the organization, there was no way for them to know that they were being fed poison, this goes to show how meticulous they are.

“Tch! I’ll upgrade my strength and destroy this darned place, fuck!.”

Five hours later

Thinking about the ranks of cultivation, the grandmaster ranks are able to expulse the inner energy within them.

But this was impossible for the current Kiryu, since its able to attack from a distance, it should probably be able to defend..

‘Inner shield?’

Would it be possible to strengthen certain parts of your body? As he thought of that, excitement flashed within his eyes.

Going into a meditative trance, Kiryu felt for his Inner Energy.

‘Okay, guide the energy to the arms..’

Willing his thoughts, he tried to guide the fire into his arms but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. It felt like trying to get a dog to converse with human.

After a few tries, he could feel the energy circulating through his shoulders and down his palms but as soon as he moved, the energy retracted back to the Chi Center[ 2 ].

After several hundred tries.

"Ugh this is hard..." Kiryu mutters in resignation.

Every single time he managed to circulate the Inner Chi down his palms, a slight movement would send them back to the Chi Center.

"WHAT!" Kiryu gasped in surprise.

Right before he was about to give up, he guided the golden strand of energy through his bloodstreams and it worked.

Moving his palms cautiously, he made sure not to let any of the energy retract and after five minutes had passed, he leaped in excitement.

As he jumped for joy, his Chi covered palm accidentally brushed by the wall.

Sfx Scratch~

As his fingers brushed the wall, it actually left several faint scratch marks, probably around a centimetre deep.

His heartbeat quickened as he thought of the endless possibilities, if a slight graze would cause a scratch mark on a concrete wall, what would a legitimate attack leave behind?

“Let’s try it throughout my whole body, if the palms worked, I am sure the other parts will work just fine..”

"If this works then i will be able to take down the Organization more easily." Kiryu spoke coldly as he clenched his fists.

After he had overheard the leader trying to poison Mai to death, he had already sentenced him to death.

Chi Cultivation opened a whole new world for him, it was filled with endless possibilities and he knows that if he continues treading on this treacherous path, he was bound to get stronger.

Shaking off all useless thoughts, he closes his eyes and slowly entered into a trance.

Author’s Note

As many of you may have noticed, I have deleted the rest of the old chapters and placed them into my google drive. Link is down below.

Why did I delete them? Well a reader had suggested it to me and other than that, I have noticed a drop in views? Well its pretty sad to see the views drop but owell, no use crying over that.

I have also changed the ranks to my own original ranks, well I made them up for my other fiction but decided to use it here as well haha.

Heres a new chapter, 3.5k words :D Enjoy~

Click >Fluffy Space

Feel free to post your suggestions and criticisms HERE It would be a big help to me in the long run.

" Waffle " Speech/Dialogue

' Waffle ' Thoughts

* Waffle * Actions

Sfx Sound Effects

[ 1 ]

A mountain higher than the other – A Chinese idiom that implies that there is always someone out there that is better than you.

[ 2 ]

Chi Center – Located right in the solar plexus, a place where your Inner Energy gathers/accumulates.