Chapter 2: The Grand Ten

Hearing an indistinct screen, Fang woke up. He looked around; there was no sky, no earth, nothing but endless darkness.

Wasn’t I hit by a meteorite… am I dead?

Is this… the world of the dead?

He looked at his body – or well, the white light that he was now.

Will I be here forever, fated to wander until my soul slowly fades into nothing?

Filled with confusion, he walked. For what felt like months, he wandered around this dark void. A speck of light, no, ten lights seemed to be in the distance.

It seemed like there were other dead people!

Relieved, Fang hurried towards the lights; the feeling of isolation for so long was too oppressive.

“Hahaha, this is great, finally we get to meet someone that can hold our body!”

“Well, this body seems to be a bit broken.”

“That doesn’t matter, fixing it is very simple.”

“Yes, we should be grateful, getting to meet someone before we disappear.”

“Our luck isn’t that bad after all!”

There was a total of 10 dead people, and from their voices, they sounded old.

One of the dead floated in front of Fang.

“Boy, you’re lucky to have met us. From now on, you will be destined for greatness!”

Fang frowned and asked, “Who the hell are you?”

“Who am I? Listen carefully and don’t be scared!” The muddy figure shined brighter. “My name is Kaesar!”

Kaesar?

Fang thought for a while, then said, “I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of that name.”

“What, you’ve never heard of me, Kaesar?” A tinge of red seeped into the old man’s aura and angrily grew. “Boy, if you’re this ignorant, it’ll be better for me to kill you right now!”

“I’m already dead, aren’t I?”

“You…” The light surrounding the old man shook crazily, and the glow seemed to get larger, as if he wanted to engulf his body. A sharp voice came from another dead soul.

“Calm down, time has passed for such a long time that we can’t expect him to know us.”

“For a long time?” The muddy figure wretchedly looked at the others. “I, one of the legendary supreme masters, be forgotten by history? Unspeakable!”

Supreme master?

Surprised, Fang thought again; he hadn’t heard of Kaesar, yet, he knew the position of a supreme master.

This category of people belonged to the apex of the world, synonymous with a godly level of power. It was even rumored that with their power, they could destroy a country without much effort.

The dead soul claims to be one of these masters?

Fang didn’t expect to meet a supreme master, because these figures were legendary and known throughout the world. And in this world, where the dead seemed to gather, what are the chances of meeting such a person? He stayed silent.

Kaesar looked at his eyes, and seeing the doubt, he shouted, “You don’t believe I am a supreme master? I’ll prove it right now, watch!”

A sense of foreboding presence came forth as the blurry figure stretched out his arm. Cautious, Fang backed off.

“Well, well, well…” Kaesar’s face was strained in effort as he concentrated for a couple of seconds, only to suddenly break out in light as a small cluster of flames emerged from his fingers.

Kaesar smiled proudly, “Hahaha, see this you ignorant boy? Tremble beneath the power of the terrible flame.”

Fang didn’t know much about the properties of fire, but he knew that just displaying a flame was the easiest of things to do, the size reflecting the power of the owner. He heard that the supreme level of mastery over flames allowed them to burn a lake into a crater, but this, the old man only held out a small flame.

Speechless, Fang coughed. “Old man, don’t you use this to light your cigars?”

“Are you stupid?” Kaesar flew into a rage. “In this void world, fire is impossible, but I forcefully created fire in front of you. And all these companions here are also at the peak of their arts.”

“That’s right, look at me!” A grey figure started to float, then moved to Fang and then back. “I’m the supreme master of shadow!”

Fang was speechless again. The dead floated from his original position to him and back in a period of… 10 seconds. It was about, what, five meters per second? Can’t really expect too much from an old person…

“Didn’t I move extremely fast?”

“Movement isn’t important, with my strength, I could destroy mountains with my fists!”

“Crushing mountains is easy – the power of the wind can grind mountains into dust!”

“Damn, the time it takes for you to grind a mountain, I can punch and destroy dozens!”

Looking at these old men trying to show off their skills, and claiming to be superior to each other, Fang was embarrassed.

Did this come with being a supreme master?

No, it could just be in this place, where there is only a black nothingness, that people would go crazy, or lose their former skills.

He didn’t want to argue with these crazy men. Again, he coughed. “If there is nothing, elders, I’ll go.”

With that, he started to float away, but the group of elders quickly surrounded him.

One of the dead spoke, “No, no, no, you can’t go, we managed to meet a suitable candidate.”

Fang questioned, “Candidate?”

Another of the dead answered, “Yes, we’ll teach you all the strongest techniques we know, you’re the luckiest person in the world!”

Fang was lost for words; he wasn’t interested at all, and plus, everyone in here was dead, so what was even the point?

He simply just said, “Hello masters, and goodbye!”

He tried to run out of the crowd, but the dead were in his way, preventing him from leaving. “You don’t want to go, it’s everyone’s dream to be selected! Don’t let him run away!”

A “master” hanging onto Fang yelled as he got dragged along. Soon, all the dead figures piled around Fang, holding him down.

“Boy, were it not for this void, if I lifted my finger, you’d already be dead.”

“Do you want to do this the hard way? Just say you want to learn.”

Fang kept shaking his head, shouting, “I don’t want to learn!”

A frigid dead soul cried in anger, “Do you have any idea how many people wanted to be our disciples? It was more people than you’ve ever seen in your lifetime!”

The shadow figure of speed desperately struggled on Fang calling, “You saw that guy; in his life, he used to like men, although you’re just a soul you never know what might happen if you don’t choose to learn…”

These madman were not normal, but the most important thing was to stop them and keep his virginity.

Fang gave in. “I’ll learn, I’ll learn whatever you teach me!”

The dead came to a standstill, then let out a cheer, while Fang looked on depressed.

Maybe these crazy souls will disappear, I’ll just hang on…