s.h.i.+ra felt guilty. He knew the shadow didn’t want to answer his question yet something forced him to do so.

But it was s.h.i.+ra family’s last blood lying in the grave. Although Yashura Family, for him, still vague as familiar fogs concealed around his fuzzy memories, any clues left behind would tremendously help him prepare at the time he returned home.

s.h.i.+ra felt his steps became heavier as he walked down the guiding path. More and more as he descended further the mountain. Sometimes, it became lighter for a moment. Then the youth felt the strong wind tried to push him back. Until, suddenly, came a time where his feet completely stuck on the dampened and lush brown ground.

That was the time he realized he was no longer inside the realm of the sea, nor he was in the realm of Badril Village replica.

He felt like dreaming. Only to wake up by a strangely familiar feeling, slithered in.

It the feeling he had when he lost consciousness and crossed over to the realm of the strange sea hundreds of years ago.

s.h.i.+ra saw his pasts pa.s.sed by when he entered the strange realm of the sea. And when he was leaving, it was the future he would see. Just like the shadow said. He didn’t lie.

s.h.i.+ra Yashura got a brief peek at the future.

It was strange and fascinating. The youth saw the future version of himself.

Inside a study room of Yashura household:

The future s.h.i.+ra was reading some strange books and seemed to prepare a medicinal bath for a small creature.

It was a little ball-like purplish fur with a big egg-shaped blue eyes monster..

“Come, my general. Sacrifice a little so you can help me teach that b.a.s.t.a.r.d spirit a lesson!”

The future s.h.i.+ra threw the cute little purple ball into the boiling pot and stirred it with a large wooden spoon like he was making some kind of soup. His face showed a determination to create a powerful dream creature to do his bidding, and thus, all was happy and hopeful–except the pitiful purple ball creature which was being boiled by the youth.

This scene seemed very trivial for s.h.i.+ra Yashura’s consciousness that stood watching like a stranger saw somebody’s daily life.

The room became blurry. And the figure of s.h.i.+ra inside was fading away slowly.

After that, came another scene.

The future s.h.i.+ra received some precious thing from an unfamiliar elderly person.

This old person was very very handsome.

“This is an expensive protection talisman for you but don’t you dare to sell it. Understand boiii?”

“Yes, Great Grandfather.”

“d.a.m.n you Lefty I told you many many times to call me Grandfhafha Lharu otherwise it will not sound cute at all.”

“Great Grandfather, my name is not Lefty. I’m s.h.i.+ra. I told you many many times but you still forget it. You also forget to take your medicine again, are you?”

“Shut up boii or Imma kick yo b.u.m!!”

The scene changed again.

He watched many scenes from his future. And lots of it were trivial things. He didn’t know when he could see that event the shadow was talking about.

Somehow, s.h.i.+ra found out he could fast forward the time with his mind. So without a further thought, he skipped a lot of things. He was stranded from his family long enough that it pained him to see those daily life scenes repeated over and over again.

Thus, not long after that, he traveled months forward with a single step.

And because he skipped time, s.h.i.+ra found out the logics were messed up, and he was out of tune with what the heck was going on.

It was weird. He found the future version of him became a real Lefty. His right hand was missing, wrapped in clean and white bandages. Something terrible must happen between the time skip that made the future s.h.i.+ra lost his right hand.

And then he saw the future of himself was feeling down. Not because he lost his hand, but because he looked at the bleak atmosphere of the village.

A lot of people packed their things. Some already left the village after having sold their houses and small land in the village for a few pieces of cheap silvers.

There was a little girl of seven crying in a small house. The future s.h.i.+ra approached and asked him questions.

“Little girl, why are you crying? What’s happen?”

“I’m hungry.”

“I have money. Let’s buy some meat buns.”

The girl face filled with joy, because she could still eat meat. Yet she continued to cry after she was no longer hungry. s.h.i.+ra asked her again and the answer left him cold.

“Some strange men said they want to play with my mommy for a moment but this was the third day and mommy still hasn’t come back yet. Daddy went to search for her but he also no return home.”

That evening, there was a hideous news that said a middle-aged guy hanged himself after found out some servants of outsiders n.o.ble family raped and killed his wife. The village guards knew who did it but they couldn’t do anything as the culprit’s status was much higher than even the Village Head.

In fact, everyone knew about the horrible news except the little girl.

“Come to sleep in my Yashura Family. We have a lot of meat buns and you can wait for your mommy and daddy come back without having to endure hunger.”

The future s.h.i.+ra felt pity toward the little girl and tossed her for his older cousin Mila to care for.

Later on the same day, before midnight, a young man came to Yashura Family’s front door with a big sword in his hand.

He met the future s.h.i.+ra.

“Give me permission,” said the hot-blooded looking young man.

“What permission?” s.h.i.+ra asked.

“To kill those evil b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.”

“Bony, doesn’t that n.o.ble family have a little connection with your sister’s sect?”

Bony gawked. “How did you know?”

“I know things. I’m not blind.”

“Yes. But it doesn’t matter. They dare to act like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d in my village then they should prepare to die like a true b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

s.h.i.+ra pondered for a long time before he answered. “Okay. Do it. But please keep the violence to minimal. People in the village are intimidated by the outsiders now. I don’t want them to feel more nervous.”

Bony bowed his body as a sign of respect.

The scene changed again.

Future s.h.i.+ra sat on a small wooden chair, crossed his legs and drank sweet tea. He combed his hair and wore an otherworld black and white suit like a true gentleman.

Two young men stood guard behind him like a pair of stable towers, wore the same black and white suit just like him. They were Polio and Pilek, and there was Bony sat with his face solemn at the other side of the room resting his hands on a big sword.

In front of calm s.h.i.+ra Yashura knelt a beautiful man that looked like a woman. His face was messy, shrunken with terror in front of the youth.

And then the youth said:

“Tell me where’s that spirit was hiding and my people will–”

Abruptly, the scene changed.

Somehow it was the scene of a tragedy now.

Badril Village was destroyed as houses were burnt and people were ma.s.sacred left and right.

A youth in a black and white suit and a black tie walked with a cold face across the crowd of unmoving corpses.

His destination was the peak of Badril Mountain.

As he climbed the mountain stairs, the future s.h.i.+ra met with more and more corpses. But now they were no longer corpses of the villagers, but armed strangers complete with steel armors and swords and pikes.

Blood was flow like a river. It was the scene from h.e.l.l.

When he arrived at the peak, the one-handed s.h.i.+ra check his weapon before the decisive battle. He wasn’t carrying a sharp sword, nor a pointed spear. But it was a small black lump of iron that the size wasn’t much bigger than his own hand. Normal people might don’t know what the heck was this thing, but he and some knowledge people always referred the small piece of iron by the name of “gun”, or “pistol”.

“Brat. You came. What do you want?” asked a familiar roguish voice.

The future s.h.i.+ra’s answer was short and clear:

“To kill you.”

The Good-Natured Spirit was laughing out loud. He opened the wall formation to let the youth enter, then personally appeared before the youth.

“I’m already dead. But you can give it a try if you want,” the spirit said with a mischievous grin.

s.h.i.+ra said no further words. The cold handgun was ready on his left hand. He looked through the familiar spirit’s eyes and grin, blink his eyes calmly as he didn’t even show fear and hesitation. With abrupt and decisive movements, he raised his pistol; aimed at the spirit and resolved his heart to kill him once for all.

Unfortunately, the Good-Natured Spirit drew pistol much faster than him.

BAAANGG!!!

The scene suddenly blackout as the currently watching s.h.i.+ra couldn’t firm his willpower. He lost his chance to see the rest of the scene.

Then a strange power came out of nowhere, sucked him out of the s.p.a.ce.

He was regretful. But at least he knew, in the future, he would confront the Good-Natured Spirit somehow. The spirit killed him in a duel.