Shackles of Humanity

Luo Kai swayed into the courtyard, hauling three bags of rice on his shoulder. Erya was by the sink, washing clothes. The winter tap water was freezing, and her small hands were covered in chilblains. Children from poor families mature quickly; enduring hardship was a way of life for those at the bottom. Despite her young age, Erya was already a natural at laundry, cooking, and mending.

”Uncle, I already washed your clothes for you.”

With Erya as a neighbor, Luo Kai had grown increasingly lazy. He hardly ever had to do his own laundry or cooking anymore.

”Why aren’t you at school?” Erya attended a nearby technical school, and Luo Kai figured it wasn’t a day off.

A bitter expression crossed Erya’s small face. ”I don’t like school,” she mumbled. ”None of my classmates like me.”

Luo Kai set the bags of rice down at the entrance to Erya’s home and casually chided her, ”How can you not go to school at your age? Without any skills, how will you earn a living and support a family later on?”

”Uncle, teach me how to fight! I’m really strong. None of the boys in my class are as strong as me.” Erya abruptly dropped the clothes, rushed over, and tugged on the hem of Luo Kai’s shirt, her eyes filled with hope.

Luo Kai froze. He looked at Erya’s small, dark, and gaunt face, and his heart softened. ”Why do you want to learn how to fight?” he asked gently.

”I... I don’t want to be bullied.”

Erya fell silent for a moment. The childish look on her face vanished, replaced by a trace of bitter resentment.

Luo Kai sighed inwardly. Though they had both done their best to avoid the subject, what happened to her village had clearly planted the seeds of hatred in her young Mind Spirit. After a moment of contemplation, he said solemnly, ”I can teach you Body Techniques, but you cannot use them to get revenge when you’re older.”

”Why?” Erya asked, stunned.

Luo Kai crouched down and spoke in a heartfelt tone. ”Erya, you’re still young. You shouldn’t live your life consumed by hatred. The strong devouring the weak is the fundamental Law of this world. I’ll teach you Body Techniques so you can handle danger, not to get revenge!”

Erya’s eyes reddened, and unable to contain her sorrow any longer, she threw herself into Luo Kai’s arms and burst into tears.

Luo Kai gently stroked Erya’s tangled hair. ”I won’t let them get away with it. Do you trust Uncle?”

Through a blur of tears, Erya looked up with her small face and nodded firmly.

’What Body Technique should I teach her?’ Luo Kai was in a bind. Girls were generally better suited for the Soft Body Technique, but successful Cultivation of it required external force for Bone Forging. Furthermore, the Soft Body Technique was for physical conditioning and lacked any actual combat skills. The Mighty Dragon Fist, on the other hand, was far too fierce and aggressive for a girl.

Erya was still young, at the perfect age to rapidly absorb new information. This was the time when she should be gaining a comprehensive education. Body Techniques were, in essence, a physical science studying how to exert the greatest Power based on the structure of the human body. Brute force alone, without understanding the principles, was useless.

After mulling it over for a long while, he decided to teach her the Mighty Dragon Fist after all. It was the only technique he knew inside and out.

Having decided to teach Erya Body Techniques, Luo Kai did his best to replicate the training methods he had used on Nanya Island. He bought several large stones and moved them into the courtyard. The first task every day was to strike the stones. It was an excellent method for physical conditioning, as it forced a person to find ways to exert their full Power, utilizing the strength of their hands, legs, and core.

The Cultivation of Body Techniques couldn’t be mastered overnight. Erya lacked Luo Kai’s monstrous Recovery Power, so training to the point of exhaustion was out of the question. They could only advance step by step, starting by changing the force-exertion habits she’d developed her whole life. Erya wasn’t afraid of hard work and had a tenacious personality, but her grasp of the techniques was far from Luo Kai’s. It was a process that couldn’t be rushed.

Old Geng strongly disapproved of Erya skipping school to spend her days in the courtyard, hitting stones to learn some ”Body Techniques.” He only dropped the subject after Luo Kai promised he would have her re-enrolled in a few days.

In truth, Luo Kai wanted to send Erya to Pan Shi Sports School to study Body Techniques systematically. He had even asked Xiaozhuo about it. The annual tuition was fifty thousand Star Dollars, an amount he could just barely afford.

When Xiaozhuo heard that a relative of Luo Kai’s wanted to attend the school, she took care of all the paperwork herself. Soon enough, Erya was a student at Pan Shi Sports School. The two girls were around the same age, but their circumstances couldn’t have been more different—one was born into a wealthy family, the other was the daughter of a poor fisherman. Their only similarity was their vibrant personalities, and so they hit it off immediately.

Xiaozhuo was indignant that Luo Kai was personally teaching Erya Body Techniques and pestered him about it relentlessly. Left with no choice, Luo Kai taught her all the stances of the Soft Body Technique. From that day forward, his life was no longer peaceful. The two girls hounded him until his head throbbed.

...

One day, Luo Kai had just stepped into the small courtyard when a group of men in drab, Yellow overcoats surrounded him. One of them pulled an arrest warrant from his coat and barked, ”Luo Kai, you’re under arrest for assault!”

Luo Kai’s expression turned cold. He took a slight step back and asked in a low voice, ”When was I in a fight?”

”Heh heh. A month ago, at that roasted duck restaurant. You assaulted Xie Ruihu and gravely injured him. He’s still laid up in the hospital. You dare deny it?”

’My mind raced.’ Luo Kai recalled the burly man he’d encountered while eating with Erya and her family. ’But I held back. I might have roughed him up a bit, but there’s no way he was seriously injured.’

”Are you trying to resist arrest?”

Luo Kai took a deep breath. ’Looks like I’ve been set up.’ There was no need to cause a major scene over something so trivial, so he obediently raised his hands.

He was put in shackles and escorted to a steam-powered truck waiting nearby. The truck drove out of the city, eventually arriving at a heavily guarded prison.

Luo Kai felt something was off. ”No arraignment? Where’s this Xie Ruihu?”

”Enough with the damn questions! Just walk!” A guard shoved him impatiently, pushing him into a cell.

It was a large, open-barracks cell, filled with all sorts of inmates. A tall, white man was the most conspicuous among them. He stood at least two meters tall, burly and barrel-chested, with bulging, tattooed muscles. A single glance told you he wasn’t someone to mess with.

Luo Kai was no stranger to prison. After entering, he obediently squatted down behind the door.

”Hey, kid. What’re you in for?” someone immediately asked.

”Fighting,” Luo Kai answered honestly. He tried to avoid conflict unless it was absolutely necessary.

”Hmph. Pretty sharp. Guess this ain’t your first time in the joint. What’s your name?” This time, it was the big, white inmate who spoke.

”Luo Kai.”

The big, white man shot up into a sitting position. ”You’re Luo Kai?”

Luo Kai tensed. ’I’ve always kept a low profile. How could anyone in here know who I am?’

”You’ve got some nerve, kid. You’re the one who killed Ma Hou, right?” The big, white inmate got off his bunk and sized him up.

Luo Kai’s face turned to ice. ’It was all premeditated.’ The incident with Xiaozhuo had been over a month ago. He’d thought it was finished, but he never expected them to use a trick like this to get him into prison. If he had known, he never would have surrendered so easily.

He rose to his feet, his icy gaze sweeping across the room. He had killed more than a few people recently, and without realizing it, had developed a trace of Evil Qi. Everyone who met his eyes couldn’t help but shiver and look away in terror.

Even the big, white inmate’s scalp tingled. He was secretly shocked. ’This kid seemed completely harmless a second ago, how did he change so completely in the blink of an eye?’ Thinking fast, he suddenly forced a smile and chuckled. ”Easy there, little brother, don’t get the wrong idea. Someone’s out to get you this time, but it’s got nothing to do with us. We wouldn’t dare get involved in the affairs of Black Stone Heavy Industry.”

Then he pointed toward the ceiling and lowered his voice. ”It’s someone from up high. They’re the ones who want to deal with you.”