The morning sun was still casting a soft golden gleam over the vill soil.
Everything appeared peaceful — the gentle chittering of catcalls, the distant sounds of people working in the fields, and thin trails of bank rising lazily from the homes.
But the resoluteness that had awakened in Li Jun's heart after history's sparring test and the opinions made this morning was fully ignorant of the intimidating reality hidden beneath this calm.
Li Jun stood near the doorway, gazing toward the village.
The sting of history's reduction still dallied in his heart, but alongside it had grown a stubborn determination — a determination that bruised him would no longer remain weak.
At that moment, a strange sound echoed through the air .
At first, it was faint, like monuments colliding nearly far down.
Also sluggishly, the noise came clearer — the clash of essence, the echo of riots, and the thunder of rushed steps pounding the ground.
Li Jun's heart began to fight.
Bank started rising from the edge of the vill.
In an instant, the silence shattered.
"Fire! There's fire!"
Someone's scream rang through the air.
People began rushing out of their homes.
Running footsteps on dirt paths, panicked voices, and rising chaos—all of it transformed into a horrifying scene.
Li Jun leaned forward and looked outside.
And what he saw stole the breath from his lungs.
Hundreds of bandits were advancing toward the village.
There were so numerous that the ground itself sounded to darken beneath them.
Some rode on horseback, others charged on bottom, and every one of them carried tools of destruction — brands, pikestaffs, axes, and flaming firebugs.
There was no mercy in their eyes.
Only rapacity, bloodlust, and a savage hunger for ruin.
A cold surge ran through Li Jun's body.
His bases felt as if they had fused with the earth.
He wanted to move, to scream, to do commodity — anything — but his body refused to respond.
Yesterday's weakness during the sparring test…
had now turned into a horrifying reality.
People ran screaming.
Some tried desperately to save their homes, others carried children in their arms, running erratically.
The riots of females, the cries of kiddies, and the helplessness of boys tore mercilessly at Li Jun's heart.
A bandit set the first house ablaze.
Flames leapt toward the sky.
Within moments, the village's central square turned into a vision of hell.
Li Jun turned with trembling eyes toward his parents.
His mother sat nearly on the bed, her body shaking with fear.
Her breathing was formerly weakened, and now the shadow of death danced in her eyes.
His father — who had always appeared retired yet strong — looked helpless for the first time.
His hands trembled, and in his eyes was a question that had no answer:
*What do we do?*
Li Jun's heart clenched in agony.
The sight was unbearable.
He wanted to run.
He wanted to fight.
He wanted to scream and save everyone.
But his feet would not move.
His body betrayed him.
The weakness he had felt during yesterday's sparring—
was now attacking his very soul.
The bandit leader rode into the center of the vill and burst into loud horselaugh.
With a single gesture of his hand, the dears boosted.
Li Jun watched as a bandit seized his neighbor by the hair and dragged him down.
Moments Latterly, the man's riots faded into the air.
The sight struck Li Jun's heart like lightning.
He collapsed to his knees.
His hands dug into the soil, as if trying to escape reality itself.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
"I… can't do anything…"
For the first time, he truly understood how terrible a curse of powerlessness was.
Desire, resolve, and a good heart—all of it felt meaningless in that moment.
The village children—who had laughed at his sparring yesterday—now stood before him, crying in fear.
Their eyes held a single question:
*Will you save us?*
Li Jun reached out his hand.
But it trembled.
His body failed him.
Every attempt was futile.
Every step meaningless.
At that moment, the bandits began setting fire to the houses one by one.
In the gleam of the dears, Li Jun saw his parents just as limited, just as weak as everyone otherwise.
Suddenly, a ponderous explosion shook the ground.
The earth trembled.
Li Jun's mother screamed and collapsed to the ground.
"Mother!"
Li Jun tried to run, but a bandit shoved him violently.
He crashed to the ground.
Pain exploded through his body.
He looked up—
His mother was injured, blood spreading across her clothes.
Li Jun's eyes filled with blood and tears at the same time.
A scream rose from his heart:
"I couldn't do anything…"
He remained seated on the ground—
his body wounded, his heart shattered, and his soul completely crushed.
The village was burning.
People were dying.
And he… was nothing.
This destruction, these flames, these screams—
kept reminding him again and again that courage alone was not enough.
Power was necessary.
True power.
Amid this helplessness, a strange fire ignited within Li Jun's heart.
It was not the fire of anger.
Nor was it the fire of hatred.
It was the fire of resolve.
A fire that burned him from within—yet did not break him.
He closed his trembling eyes.
His breaths were heavy, his heart wounded, but one truth had become unshakable.
"I will never be powerless again…"
"I will destroy my weakness…"
" I'll gain power — no matter what I've to immolate "
At that moment, another blast erupted.
Li Jun was thrown to the ground.
Blood and gashes flowed together.
His world dematerialized into a intimidating, pitch-black night —
Yet within that darkness, nearly deep in his heart, a bitsy spark of power flitted.
That spark whispered:
*This is the moment… that will change your life.*
Li Jun lay on the ground—
blood and tears mixed, his body broken, but a single, iron-clad decision echoed in his heart:
"This destruction is only the beginning…"
"I will never be powerless again…"