MTLNOVEL Chapter 5: Threat
After returning to the inn, Noir excused himself and went to his room.
"I feel like I don't have any direction in my life," he thought. "Back home, I wanted to save money to start a business, but here…" He sighed.
"I have no knowledge of this world, and I feel like I'm wasting my time. But at the same time, I felt happy spending time with those two." He lay on his bed, looking at the ceiling.
"I'm now a cultivator, but I don't know how to cultivate. And seeing the condition of this village, I don't think I can learn anything if I stay here longer. But…"
The faces of Big Huang and Xiao Meili flashed before him. "My heart says I can't just leave them here, but seeing Big Huang's reaction when I spoke about cultivating…"
He remembered Big Huang's words. "Cultivators! You mean immortals? They're no joke, little brother. Immortals are living gods, and we mortals can never be one of them. Stop dreaming."
Noir couldn't deny the risk of pursuing the life of a cultivator. Although he didn't have much knowledge about them, he knew one thing: only the strong can survive.
He scoffed. "Although I won't die here like I did in my previous life, there's no guarantee I won't face near-death experiences in the future."
He knew in his mind that living a mortal life here was akin to death because they were at the bottom of the food chain. So, cultivation was his only option.
"The system is here to help me," he thought. "There must be a way I can learn more about cultivation, then I will teach it to Big Huang and Xiao Meili. Only then can I start my real journey."
Just as he finished his thoughts, the system window opened before his eyes.
[System] [Master has finally decided to embark on the path of cultivation] System Reward: Basic Qi Cultivation Manual
Noir looked at the screen with a surprised expression. "Can the system read my mind?" he spoke, but there was no reaction from the system.
"Leave it," he said to himself. He sat up on the bed and thought about the cultivation manual, which materialized in his hands.
"Basic Qi Cultivation Manual," he read the title. He opened it and, to his surprise, could read every word.
Soon, Noir was immersed in the manual. Without realizing it, he stayed up all night, lost in its pages.
Closing the manual, he yawned. "I can feel something has changed within my body, but I feel tired after reading it all night. Let's take a quick nap."
He lay on the bed as the system opened his status window, and the book vanished from his hands.
[System]
Noir
Balance: 17 gold coins
Cultivation: Second Level Qi Awakening
Bloodline: Heavenly Birth Refining Bloodline
Storage: Basic Qi Cultivation Manual (1)
"So, I've levelled up to the second level of Qi Awakening just by reading the manual," he mused. "Let's see how much it will help me when I start cultivating for real. But before that…let's sleep."
Closing his eyes, he fell asleep within seconds, exhausted.
"You have come!"
"We were waiting for you, Master."
"We won't let you sacrifice for us; we'll live together, or we'll die together."
Noir fell into a deep sleep, where he saw some foggy figures addressing him. Though he could hear their words, he couldn't see past the fog.
"Who are you?" he spoke as he moved toward the fog to see their faces. But the more he went forward, the figures moved further away.
"You are foolish to think we'll die with you."
Noir felt a presence behind him. Someone plunged a sword into his back. He tried to turn, but before he could move, he fainted in pain.
"Young master!"
"Young master!"
Noir abruptly opened his eyes and found his door being knocked on loudly. The inn's servant was calling him.
Getting up from his bed, he opened the door. "What happened?"
"Those people…" the servant was huffing for air.
"Those people have given me this…" He showed a piece of paper. "It says that if you want them alive, bring all the gold."
"What?"
Noir ran to the next door to see Xiao Meili, but she wasn't in her room. He then went to the next room to find Big Huang, who also wasn't there.
"What's going on?" he whispered, then asked loudly, "Where are they? What happened here?"
The servant felt intimidated by Noir as his Qi erupted from his body. The servant found it hard to speak.
Noir somehow controlled his Qi after seeing servant couldn't speak because of his intimidating aura.
The servant took a deep breath and spoke. "The lady went somewhere in the morning, and when she didn't come back, the big guy went to find her. But both of them haven't returned. And then Someone gave me this and told me to give it to you."
Noir felt his feet going numb. "Is this why Big Huang was telling me to be careful? This is all my fault." Suddenly finding himself in a strange, tough situation, Noir felt threatened by it.
"Who are they? Do you know them?" he asked.
"No, he was hiding his face," the servant replied. "He gave me this piece of paper and told me to tell you to meet at the beggars' shabby hut."
"Beggars' shabby hut! They're there." Never having been in a situation like this, his heart was beating fast, but he knew he couldn't run away.
Noir ran directly to the kitchen and took a butcher knife. "Young master!" the servant wanted to stop him, but remembering the intimidating aura coming from Noir, he stopped himself.
Meanwhile, inside the old hut, Big Huang was beaten and bruised, tied to the middle wooden pillar of the hut. Beside him was Xiao Meili, whose cheeks were red from slaps, but she was otherwise unharmed.
A man close to Big Huang put his leg on Big Huang's head. "You have beaten our three men, and two of them are still unconscious. How are you going to take responsibility?" He pressed his leg on the wound on Big Huang's head.
"AAhhhh!" Big Huang spat blood as he tried to resist.
Suddenly, the masked man entered the hut. Seeing him, all four men looked at him. "Have you delivered the message?" the man hurting Big Huang asked.
The masked man nodded. "Yes, it's done. Now all we have to do is wait."
The leader of the group took out a gold coin from his pocket. "We could only find one gold coin in this big monkey's clothes. There was nothing else useful here. Seems that brat is the one holding the real thing."
Meanwhile,
As Noir left the inn, the system window opened in front of his eyes and he halted his steps.
[System]
[Family in need. Save Big Huang and Xiao Meili while defeating the five remaining thieves who are after your wealth.]
Reward: Seed of Cultivation (2x)
50 gold coins
Random Martial Art Manual