Chapter 129: Gratitude & Motherhood


    Step! Step!


    As the footsteps were getting closer and closer, ude couldn''t help but grit his teeth due to frustration. The footsteps were closer than ever now, and he couldn''t afford to make a mistake. Not right now.


    Step! Step!


    "I''ve got you now!" ude swung his katana as soon as the first step was heard, and the sound of flesh being sliced was heard for a second, before a soft whisper entered into ude''s ear. "Sakuto. why?!"


    Thud!


    The lifeless figure fell onto the snow filled road in front of ude, who stared at the body with a horrified expression on his face.


    "...Mother?"


    Thud!


    ude knelt down in front of the lifeless corpse of his mother, and softly caressed her face.


    "Why on earth... Why?!" ude screamed in agony as he clenched his fists and mmed it hard on the snowy roads, causing a loud explosion and creating a huge crater on the spot where he punched.


    In his former life, ude had lost his mother when he was still a teenager. Back in those days, he was a young and immature boy who still had no idea how cruel the real world was, and the death of his mother had hit him hard, causing him to change his whole outlook of life.


    He realised that the world wasn''t all sunshine and rainbows, and was filled with blood, death and destruction. After the death of his mother, ude could see the world for what it really was; a dark and deadly world where there was no ce for good men.


    In the end, he had decided to pursue the way of the samurai, in order to change this world once and for all, though he wouldter go on to regret that decision.


    However, even after all of the pain and suffering he had endured, he still remembered his mother with the same rose coloured view of the world he had back when she was alive.


    To ude, the day his mother passed away was the day when he faced the harsh reality.


    "Why are you crying, Sakuto?" A familiar voice entered his ears, and all of a sudden, a hand grabbed his shoulder, catching ude off guard and he turned around immediately.


    Behind him, much to his shock, stood his mother, smiling at him as though he wasn''t the one who had killed her just a few seconds ago.


    ***********************


    Back in the real world.


    Inner disciple division, in front of ude''s Residence.


    "Come on, get moving.." Ian and hisckeys stood in front of the entrance to ude''s residence, which was emitting smoke and fire, and right next to them stood Randall, who had been seriously beaten and tied up, and was ring at Ian with hatred evident in his eyes.


    The entirety of ude''s residence had been burned down by hisckeys, and the lifeless bodies of the rest of the servantsid in front of the entrance, as if they were presented for everyone''s view.


    "Are you trying to make me poke out your eyeballs?" Feeling ufortable because of his fierce gaze, Ian turned to Randall with an annoyed expression and asked, to which Randall snorted in response.


    "You think you can just do whatever you want just because the young master is busy with his cultivation training? When my young master gets out of the closed seclusion chamber, it''s not going to end well for any of you." Randall said with anger, and Ian merely scoffed at his words, and he spit on the floor in order to make his feelings clear. "That piece of sh*t only won against me because I underestimated him. But not anymore. Now that I know what he''s capable of, he''ll never stand a chance against me."


    "Ha ha ha ha ha. Are you f*cking serious right now?" Randallughed out loud as soon as Ian finished his words, which forced one of theckeys to kick him on his back and push him down onto the ground, in an attempt to make him shut up. However, he did not stopughing even after he hit the ground, and instead hisughter just got even louder.


    "Ha ha ha ha ha! To think that you were simply a f*cking moron. You still believe that you underestimated him, don''t you? Even after you lost to him Ha ha ha ha ha! This is just hrious!" Heughed maniacally as he spoke, which just made Ian angry.


    BAM!


    Ian walked towards the tied up Randall who was lying on the ground, grabbed his hair tightly and pulled his face up. He then summoned a small de in his other hand and brought it close to Randall''s eyes, stopping right before the tip struck his pupil.


    "One more word from your stupid mouth, and I stab this de into your eyes," Ian stared at the injured Randall with his cold gaze, and Randall, who noticed that Ian had gotten closer, immediately spit on his face.


    "AHHH!" Ian, who hadn''t expected such a response from the injured servant, jumped back in disgust as Randall let out another loudughter. "Ha ha ha ha! Did you seriously think I''d get scared because of your stupid threat? You''re proving yourself to be more and more of an idiot right now!"


    "AHHHH! YOU MOTHERF*CKING B*TCH!" Ian, who looked like he had enough of Randall, screamed loudly as he grabbed Randall''s face and immediately plunged the small de in his hands right into his left eye, piercing it without a problem, and Randll let out an ear piercing scream. "AHHHH!"


    "Oh, you didn''t like that very much, did you?" Ian had a sinister smile on his face as he slowly pushed the de deeper and deeper, and Randall began squirming around, screaming in agony as his eye started to leak blood, looking like a pulp of flesh,pletely losing its identifying features.


    After a few seconds of twisting and turning of the de, Ian pulled it out from his eye socket, and Randall let out a final scream before trying to catch his breath.


    But before he couldpletely calm down, Ian grabbed his hair once again and pulled him up, pushing his tied up body towards one of theckeys and said,"Pull him up! We have to head off to the training ground sector."


    He then paused for a second and looked at the injured Randall with a serious expression on his face and continued, "I need him there, and I need him alive."


    "Wha- what are you nning to do?" A weakened Randall whispered softly as he began inhaling, and theckey pulled him up and made him face Ian, who simply replied,"I''m going to make your master f*ck up during his cultivation training!"


    *********************


    After a few minutes of walking, Ian, hisckeys and an injured Randall reached the front of the closed seclusion chamber in which ude was training.


    Ian snapped his fingers at theckey, who was holding Randall, and he immediately dropped Randall to the ground, who fell on his knees, and Ian walked up behind him, pulled his head up, and ced his de right on his neck.


    He then yelled out,"ude! I know you can hear me!"


    He then stabbed his de into Randall''s eye once again, who screamed out in pain, and Ian yelled out once again,"You hear that? That''s your servant, Randall! I just stabbed his eye! And I''m going to kill him, right in front of you. And guess what? You won''t be able to do anything about it!"


    He then pressed his hand on Randall''s neck once again and stabbed right in the middle, causing Randall to scream out in agony once again, this time even louder.


    Ian grabbed his hair up and then pulled him closer to the chamber in order to make ude hear his screams even more clearer, and after a few minutes of squirming around and screaming, Randall''s body went limp, and Ian dropped him like it was nothing.


    He then ced his face next to the chamber and said, "Such a shame isn''t it? You''re stuck inside your mind, unable to do anything, while I''m out here, killing your servant right in front of you! But in my defense, you really shouldn''t have messed with me."


    He then paused for a second, and with an evil smile, he said, "I''ll be looking forward to the contest, junior brother ude. That is, if you''ll even make it."


    At the same time, inside the mystical realm.


    "Such a shame isn''t it? You''re stuck inside your mind, unable to do anything...."


    ude opened his eyes as a familiar voice entered his ears, and he looked around and saw that he was lying on his mother''sp.


    He then leapt up in an instant, with a serious expression on his face, which caught his mother off guard.


    The familiar voice continued to repeat inside his mind, and ude grabbed his head.


    That''s right, this was just in my mind. Don''t forget it, ude


    "What''s the matter, Sakuto? Is it something you can''t tell your mother?" Ignoring the shocked ude, his mother asked him with a beaming smile as she stretched out her hand to caress his face.


    ude flinched for a second, but didn''t stop her from doing so, and his mother cupped her hands on his cheeks in a loving manner.


    "Are you sad, Sakuto?" She asked as she looked into ude''s eyes and he nodded his head.


    He then pulled her closer and hugged her, which startled his mother all of a sudden.


    "What is it, my son? You can tell your mother anything." She said as she patted his back, her voice filled with concern as she asked.


    "Oh, how I wish I could, mother.." ude said after a few seconds of silence, and his mother listened carefully. He pulled back his head and grabbed his mother''s shoulders, looking at her face with a painful expression on his face. "But you have to understand that I just can''t."


    He looked at his confused mother with a bitter smile as he continued, "Because no matter how much you try to conjure up my mother''s image, you can''t erase the fact that I saw her die."


    Swish!


    His katana pierced her chest, and as he looked at his shocked mother, he said, "So, although I am happy about seeing my mother once again, I''m afraid this is thest time."


    He then pushed the katana even deeper while pulling his mother closer to him, embracing her as she let out her dying breath. "Thank you mother, for now I know what I have to do to get out of this ce."