Repugnant Gateway

Chapter 4

An Zheng seemed to be smiling but actually was not. He looked at Gao Di, his eyes were full of ferocious challenges, which made Gao Di cold inside. An Zheng was obviously half a head shorter than him, but he made Gao Di greatly anxious. An Zheng stepped forward and Gao Di stepped backwards unconsciously. An Zheng stepped forward again, and Gao Di turned his back running away.

 
Boof!

 
The dagger flew cutting off one of his ears, and then it stuck to the door. If the dagger was a little inclined, it would have stuck into Gao Di’s nape. The dagger penetrated deeply into the door to see its potential velocity. Although Gao Di’s head was hard, An Zheng could have killed him if he had wanted to.

 
The most important aspect was in the throwing skills of An Zheng which made Kou Lu more scared.

 
An Zheng’s arm was basically unsteady. His throwing strength was just based on the strengths of his wrist. If such a child at this age had wanted to throw the dagger like this, he might have had to use his entire arm in doing so. But An Zheng just moved once, and his shoulders did not even move. Kou Lu could not practice but only do Body Refining, so he knew how to move exactly. Moving the hips and shoulders, and then finally moving wrist would have made the strongest movement.

 
An Zheng only used the strengths from his wrist, and it was enough for the other people to admire. That such a skinny and weak body could potentially be so strong. At this time, Kou Lu had made his decision without any of the choices that would push An Zheng"s potential to be trained.

 
This place was the Illusory Perennial Domicile, so every street had its own potential power. The name of the Great Nine Bandits though seemed to be famous. Actually, they were just little famous. No matter what place, the most powerful person was the greatest cultivating pract.i.tioner. Of the Great Nine Bandits, only the eldest brother and the Ninth could have practiced together. The eldest brother"s health was limited. After he had reached the Second Stage, he could not advance anymore. The Ninth"s health was limited, but he was not taught regularly. As a result, it was hard for him to advance.

 
If they did not want to lose their area to the other’s hands, they would have needed to frequently improve their own powers. Therefore, each of the streets in the Illusory Perennial Domicile had one school. The schools did not teach general knowledge but of battle strategies. It was free, so any child could come to study. However, the initial fundamentals was that the child must have joined the clan.

 
According to the other people of the Great Nine Bandits, such a wasted one as An Zheng would have been sent away since long time ago. But Kou Lu used to say that it was not because a person was to be seen as waste, that he would have been dismissed. Putting forth such judgements like only made the townspeople confused, and they would see that the school of the South Mountain Town was not serious. As a result, they would not allow their children to study there. The remaining eight people of the Great Nine Bandits actually did not agree to open the school. In their minds, they thought that if they had wanted to recruit potential gang members, he must have been young and strong. In raising a child, it would have taken at least ten long years to be able to make use of him, and this was too long.

 
However, Kou Lu did not think the same. Kou Lu a.s.sumed that the teenagers who were seventeen or eighteen years old would have no pa.s.sions for studying although they were strong. Even if they had pa.s.sion, it was already hard in teaching them alone. Children were different. Children were simple and had no ideas. If they were trained from the beginning, they would have learned not only fighting skills but also of survival skills. The most important aspect was in cultivating their loyalty.

 
Anyway, those remaining in the Great Nine Bandits did not care about the children, so they simply handed them to Kou Lu. Few people sometimes came there just for fun due to their sudden inspiration of teaching.

 
When Kou Lu had realized An Zheng"s change, he immediately decided to train that child. Now he realized that he was wrong in the past. Although Gao Di"s henchmen looked aggressive, they did not care about studying. They were only aggressive, and they also did not have potential. Although An Zheng was younger, his body was not also tall, but he had too much potential.

 
Kou Lu used to try with the other children in the school, but none of them could have enough potential in studying. If An Zheng could be possible, Kou Lu surely wanted to bring him to the Ninth.

 
– "Do you want to kill him?", asked Kou Lu.

 
An Zheng moved forward, took the dagger out of the door, and shook his head,

 
– "No, at least not for today. These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have bullied me for many years. If I killed them right now, how could I ask for further payments? Today’s debt is for today. Yesterday’s debt is for tomorrow, and the debt before yesterday will be paid on the day after tomorrow. Therefore, they are going to pay me until they have finished their debts."

 
He turned to look at Gao Di as Gao Di was holding his ear and shaking. He looked at An Zheng in fear as if An Zheng had become a demon.

 
– "I like this kind of look that is in your eyes."

 
An Zheng smiled to Gao Di, moved to him and clapped his shoulder.  When his hand had just touched Gao Di’s shoulder, Gao Di lost control and shook.

 
So An Zhang laughed gladly:

 
– "I see in your eyes a little fear, a little hatred, and a little cruelty. If you want revenge, I will give you a chance… today you had just kicked me once, so I only acquired your one of your ears. So, how about yesterday"s debt? Do you still remember? If you cannot remember clearly, I will tell you tomorrow."

 
– "Kill me if you dare!"

 
Gao Di was totally frightened, and his eyes flushed up,

 
– "An Zheng, if you do not dare to kill me, I will kill you sooner or later!"

 
An Zheng laughed more gladly,

 
– "It’s so good! I also do not want a boring life."

 
– "F*ck off!"

 
He suddenly shouted loudly. Gao Di was not prepared, so he was so scared that he tried to hide. His leg was stuck, and he fell to the floor. He looked full of hatred. In the past, there was only him, who had looked down on the other people, no one dared to look down on him. Now An Zheng, a skinny child who was many times weaker than him, just stared at him once, and then his heart felt as if it was about to explode. In the past, roaring was only way to react from a terrible scare.

 
He felt scared and also subdued, but he could not know why he had no courage to fight back. And then he cried. The one, who had bullied the other people for so many years, was frightened to tears. Gao Di cried while he stood up. He held his ear and ran out.

 
The other children in the cla.s.sroom looked at each other. No one dared to speak or even breathe. They looked at An Zheng as if he came from another world. They were also the habitual cla.s.sroom, the familiar cla.s.smates, and Kou Lu. But An Zheng became so strange that they felt scared.

 
– "It’s enough for today. You take w.a.n.g Meng and w.a.n.g Zhuang to the infirmary."

 
Kou Lu stared at An Zheng, and said,

 
– "You follow me. I have some questions for you."

 
An Zheng shook his head again,

 
– "No!"

Kou Lu went pale,

 
– "Are you refusing me?"

 
An Zheng said,

 
– "I was injured. w.a.n.g Meng and w.a.n.g Zhuang beat me too brutally, and my internal organs were seriously injured. I need to check in at the infirmary. Mister Lu would you like me to go with you, since you must want to teach me something, but with my unhealthy body, I am afraid that I cannot afford to be able to learn from you, Mister Lu."

 
Kou Lu was surprised as to why An Zheng suddenly became another person. Basically, he was not like a child. He spoke clearly, not arrogantly or adulatory. Moreover, it looked like he was very familiar with his body. Such a fast and decisive movement needed to be trained for at least two years in the past, except that An Zheng was a genius.

 
– "So, you can leave. Once you feel revived, come to the Great Bandit Hall to find me."

 
Finishing his words, Kou Lu went away. When he was at the gate, he took out a silver bar, throwing to An Zheng,

 
– "Buy some meat for yourself."

 
An Zheng caught the silver bar, smiled, and said with his hands together,

 
– "Thank you Mister Lu."

 
No one noted that behind his smile was the most extreme depression. From An Zheng’s memory, he knew how to survive in this place. This place was the Illusory Perennial Domicile where guilt was clearly revealed, and without any covers. To survive in this place one definitely needed to make the people accept him. He would wait until his health had recovered before he left.

 
Although the situation in this place made many people sick, it was temporarily safe.

 
Here An Zheng determined that a person, who had already reached the Great Ampleness Stage did not exist, so no one would realize his strangeness. His soul was extremely strong, so he could escape from the ten tartars of the Great Ampleness Stage surrounding. However, the results were also terrible. The enemy was really cunning and cruel. Of the ten tartars of the Great Ampleness Stage, it obviously shadowed some men of the Basic Sky Stage. Those men could stealthily have beaten him. Otherwise, it would have been very easy for him to escape.

 
The Illusory Perennial Domicile was a quiet place, though those baddies there were the worst baddies that could be compared with the others. True heroes looked down on this place, in living here, so An Zheng decided to stay here. Once staying here, he had to slow down his depression. At first, he needed to understand the situation and politics of this place, but later, he would get rid of all the things that made this place disgusting. If it was not due to his sp.a.w.n, he would never have come to live in such an inferior place like this.

 
– "An… An Zheng?"

 
While An Zheng was thinking, he heard someone calling. An Zheng turned back, and he found that person was Du ShouShou. For this child, An Zheng quite appreciated.  If Du ShouShou did not count on him, An Zheng wouldn"t have been able to have lived until now. How could an orphan live in such a place as the Illusory Perennial Domicile easily?

 
So An Zheng smiled and came to hold Du ShouShou’s shoulder,

 
– "Let’s go!"

 
Du ShouShou"s was little shaken because he had seen that An Zheng’s manner was really weird today. No one knew An Zheng more clearly than him. Although An Zheng did not change in his appearance, his eyes were totally different compared with how they were in the past. He was not timid anymore when facing with people. He only had confident manners now. His confidence was of the same that he had used to step on all the people.

 
However, although Du ShouShou doubted that An Zheng had changed, he did not a.s.sume that his closest friend was already dead. Now, little did he know that the soul in this body really did used to step on all sorts of people.

 
– "Where will… we go?"

 
Du ShouShou asked unconsciously.

 
An Zheng threw the silver bar in his hand,

 
– "Buy some meat!"

 
– "But didn’t you say that you would like to cure your injury?"

 
– "Eating meat is to cure the injury."

 
– "Uh huh? Why didn’t I know this?"

 
– "There are many things that you don’t know. Hey, from now on, I will protect you."

 
– "But, but it was me who protected you in the past."

 
– "What? Aren’t you happy?"

 
– "Neither I… alright, I will follow you from now on!"

 
– "It’s good of you. I wanna ask you a question. Where do they sell good meat?"

 
– "I have only enjoyed the meat that I self-cooked, and only when my big brother comes home, could I eat. How about you? Do you know where they sell the best meat?"

 
– "I certainly… I have never enjoyed meat. How can I know?"

 
They held each other’s shoulder and went away. Du ShouShou did not believe that his life will change from that day onwards.