Liang Tianye noticed Duncan's reaction and turned towards him. He saw Duncan's expression and deduced something.
"Had loved ones in there, did you?"
Duncan didn't know how to reply to that statement. Neither Granny Jiao nor Bessa could be considered his loved ones. But, they were people he knew. It wasn't as if he was particularly close to anyone apart from Granny Jiao. But, nevertheless, that town had been his whole existence until a few months.
And Granny Jiao…
Granny Jiao had been the person he went to when he wanted some wisdom. She was the one who took care of his orphan self with her meager earnings. She always had something for him to eat or drink when he visited her.
She was also the one who nagged at him to settle down. She was also the one who encouraged him to step out of town and look for his calling when he was confused.
And now, she was no more.
Duncan felt as if someone had slammed a huge hammer on his head. The revelations of this day kept coming at him relentlessly. First, he learned that he had killed countless wild beasts singlehandedly in what could be called a berserk state.
Then, he learned that he had battled and killed a demonic beast, something that was even impossible for other mortals to even dream about. Then someone tried to kill him. And someone else saved and kidnapped him.
Now, he was in a cultivation sect and had effortlessly become their disciple. He had even felt everything was going well for him apart from small hitches, for the first time in his life.
But, this news about the destruction of Starsinger Town was something that was truly unexpected for him. He had never even dared to imagine such a thing. And it had happened.
Suddenly, everything felt too much for him to handle. It was not any single thing, but it was these things that kept occurring to him in the span of 24 hours. And for a moment, he felt like his head was spinning.
He didn't know how to answer the man's question. He merely stared blankly at the ground hoping that this was all a dream and he would wake up in that cave. He preferred being hunted by wild beasts and bandits to this any day.
"Looks like this news has come as a huge surprise to you. I will leave you now. You rest for the day and I will send someone to provide you with food and water for the night. I will send someone to fetch you tomorrow," Liang Tianye said calmly before walking out of Duncan's dwelling.
Duncan stood there like a statue for a long time. He didn't know how to react. Was he supposed to rage and swear revenge on someone? Was he supposed to break down and bawl his eyes out? Was he supposed to even feel anything?
Duncan felt truly disconnected from the world at that moment.
Starsinger Town was all he had known until a few months ago. To be honest, he didn't like most of the people in it. If not, he would have never left the town on short notice like that.
So, he couldn't say that he was sentimental towards that town as a whole.
But, it was the place he grew up in. Those were the people with whom he had shared wine and bread with. Those were the people who had been around him for almost two decades.
Even if he filtered out Granny Jiao, there were still a few people whom he considered to be decent folk. Bessa, while a whore, was someone to whom he had lost his virginity.
He couldn't say the same about any other woman. Duncan could admit now that he had a soft spot for Bessa in his heart since that moment. Until now, he had never even stopped to think about it.
And then, there was Big Rock, who had taken him under his wing and had explained to him the dangers of the outside world. He didn't get anything out of it. He had shared his knowledge because they were from the same town.
And there were the people who worked in the mines with him. They were family men, with common worries and no aspirations apart from raising their children. They were simple folk, to be honest.
Now, all of them had gone. Annihilated. Destroyed.
For what? Duncan didn't know. It didn't look like they had anything to do with this stuff. They had no interaction with cultivators or demonic beasts. But, they had died as a byproduct of their struggle.
Duncan felt truly for the first time how dangerous it was to be a mortal in this world. This was a world in which might made right. The strongest ones lived and the weakest wouldn't even know how they died.
He didn't think any of the townsfolk knew why they were annihilated. From what the man had said, it seemed like a struggle between the Demonic Beast and two cultivators.
He didn't even know what a Nascent Soul cultivator meant. And he was the one who had more information on cultivators and how they lived compared to any other townsfolk.
"Remember Duncan, in the eyes of cultivators we are nothing better than livestock."
Granny Jiao's words echoed in his mind, causing Duncan to plop unceremoniously to the ground. He sat there dazed as he realized that Granny Jiao was right. These cultivators didn't care whether the townsfolk lived or died.
They fought near that region knowing full well that their powers would kill those mortals who are near them. Their fight had been so big that the mine had exploded unable to endure the pressure.
The very mine in which he had been working until a few months ago. The very mine in which he would have been working if he had not set out from the town. The very mine which could have become his graveyard if he hadn't chased after cultivation.
Duncan imagined being in the mine when it exploded with enough force to level the entire town and shuddered a little. That would be a bad way to die. Even if he didn't somehow die in the explosion, he would be buried under the rubble and suffocate to death.
Duncan had never imagined how he wanted to die, but he was sure that wasn't the way he would have wished to go. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl and his heart shudder.
"To cultivators, mortals are like livestock. I do not want to be livestock anymore. I do not want to die without knowing why I died. I can only hope that Granny Jiao passed away in her sleep. From now on, I want to be a cultivator. Someone who has the power to decide his own life and death," Duncan mumbled plopping down on the ground.
He didn't bother to go to the bedroom or grab the futon in there. His mind was now in a mess trying to come to terms with how his entire past was now gone. He was truly alone in the world.
And the strangest thing was that he was only feeling the shock of the news. There was no anger, relief, or any other emotions mixed in there. His heart was like a void unable to truly hold any emotion at this moment.
"Until now, I wanted to become a cultivator just to clear that itch in my heart. I never truly wanted to be one. Cultivation was something for me to search after. It was something interesting compared to my mundane life. But now…"
"But now, I want to be a cultivator so that I could decide my own life and death. I don't want to be livestock anymore. I don't want someone to dictate my life and death on a mere whim."
"I want to be a cultivator so that I don't need to bow to anyone else. I want to be able to freely roam the world savoring all the wines and women it has to offer. I don't want to be tied down to someplace that I don't want to be in."
"I want to live like the wind, freely. Going wherever I want and doing whatever pleased me. For that I need strength, I can't even escape from this Heavenly Demon Sect as I am now. Without sufficient strength, I will not be able to live as I want," Duncan mumbled looking at the ceiling.
"So, I will first learn all that this Heavenly Demon Sect has to teach me. I will truly become strong so that no one would think of even discomforting me. Then, maybe then, I will go after these people who caused the destruction of the Starsinger Town," Duncan said without much mirth.
"At least, I should do that for Granny Jiao's sake. After all, I owe her a huge debt. Without the sword she gave me, I wouldn't even be alive now. I will carry the sword she gave me and exact my revenge on the people who killed her. I think it would be a fitting repayment for Granny Jiao."
"If I know her right, then such a prospect might tickle her funny. She had always hated cultivators. Now I am becoming one. And I am going to kill her killers with the sword she gave me. Somewhere in there, there is an irony," Duncan cracked a sad smile at that.
"Granny Jiao's killers, the Wang Clan, that female who tried to kill me, and that old coot," Duncan said looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Looks like I have enough motivation to keep going on this quest for power."
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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