Into the Forest of Death

Tianze stepped out of the physician’s house, carrying Arthur’s lifeless body on his back. His steps were steady, but his heart burned with emotions he couldn't name.

His father was gone.

The man who had raised him, protected him, and sacrificed everything for him… was now nothing more than a cold corpse resting against his shoulder.

Tianze didn’t cry. He didn’t scream. He simply walked.

But in his silence, his eyes spoke a thousand words.

---

His destination was clear.

The elders.

The ones his father had helped throughout his life. The ones who had once treated them like family. If nothing else, they deserved to know of Arthur’s death.

But when Tianze arrived… he found nothing but horror.

---

The street where the elders had once lived was now a graveyard.

Tianze froze. His breath hitched. His mind refused to process what lay before him.

Hundreds of heads—piled up in a corner like discarded waste.

Blood had long since dried on the ground, staining the dirt with the final moments of those who had once laughed, spoken, and lived alongside his father.

Tianze’s heart had already begun to harden, but this…

This carved away whatever remained.

Slowly, he lowered Arthur’s body to the ground. His hands trembled—not from fear, not from grief, but from the sheer emptiness that now consumed him.

Then, movement.

A frail old man, grimacing in a corner. His entire body shivered as if the air itself had turned to ice. His eyes darted around in fear, as if the shadows themselves were hunting him.

Tianze approached him. His voice was hollow. “What happened?”

The old man flinched, his lips quivering. “T-they left me… only me… to tell the story. Why didn’t they kill me too…? Why…?”

Tianze’s voice sharpened. “Who did this?”

The old man’s body spasmed as if saying the names alone would summon death. But after a few deep breaths, he whispered,

“…The Tang Clan… and the Namgoong Clan.”

Tianze’s fingers curled into fists. He had expected it, but hearing it aloud made the rage inside him coil like a viper ready to strike.

“Who did you see? Do you remember anyone?”

The old man shuddered. His eyes were unfocused, as if reliving the nightmare.

“Tang Clan’s Third Young Master… Namgoong Clan’s Patriarch… and their guards.”

His voice cracked as he continued, repeating the words that had sealed the fate of so many.

"How dare a filthy commoner touch my daughter and ask for a Ninth-Grade Pill?"

"How dare he touch my fiancée?"

They had been unable to find Tianze. So they slaughtered everyone.

Tianze’s nails dug into his palms. The words didn’t anger him. They didn’t sadden him.

They only confirmed what he already knew.

This world was built on cruelty. And only those with power dictated life and death.

The old man’s voice softened, barely audible.

“You… you are poor, my child… it is a sin… Your mother…”

The words slipped from the old man’s lips like a mistake.

Tianze’s eyes snapped toward him.

His mother?

Back when Tianze had asked Arthur about his mother, his father had only taken him to a single place—a beautiful, mesmerizing peach tree where she had been buried. He had never said a word beyond that.

Whenever Tianze longed for his mother, he would sit beneath that tree and talk to it, hoping she could hear him from the afterlife.

But now…

Tianze crouched in front of the old man. His voice was sharp. “What do you know about my mother? Tell me.”

The old man hesitated. But then, as if knowing his end was near, he exhaled a shaky breath and spoke.

“She was poor too. But she was beautiful. That was her sin.”

His voice was bitter.

“The nobles and the rich… the commoners and the thugs… everyone made her life hell. She begged for death. But when she conceived you… she decided to give you a chance. She sacrificed herself… for you…”

The old man let out one last breath and slumped over. Dead.

Tianze stood up. His body felt numb, but his mind was clear.

He had nothing left to lose.

And when a man has nothing to lose, he becomes a monster that doesn’t stop until his last breath.

---

Tianze gave the elders a proper burial. He didn’t say anything. There were no prayers, no goodbyes—only silence.

Then, without hesitation, he left.

His destination—the Forest of Death.

With every step he took, his breath grew deeper. More controlled.

He inhaled like a beast. He exhaled like a beast.

And with each breath, he absorbed inner energy.

He didn’t need to sit and meditate like a human. He absorbed energy just by existing.