Bu Kek Siansu (The Demigod) Chapter 02

And so began the struggle, or rather, the one-sided battle. The three men were forced to fight back in self-defense, but they were common thieves—how could they withstand the assault of dozens, even hundreds, of angry, bloodthirsty people? The boy, while the mobbing was happening outside his house, emerged from within, his face covered in blood, his hands and clothes likewise stained.

He stepped out as if in a dream, his face deathly pale, his wide eyes staring in utter horror. He stood before his doorway, his eyes widening further as he watched what was happening in front of his house. He clearly saw how his neighbors, like a pack of savage wolves, attacked and beat the three thieves—the murderers of his parents. He heard the thieves groan and whimper, begging for mercy, and he heard the sounds of *bak-bik-buk* as feet, hands, and weapons struck them.

The three of them collapsed, and were continuously beaten, hacked, and struck, blood spurting everywhere. The bodies of the three men convulsed, strange sounds escaping their throats. But the angry, bloodthirsty people, who believed that what they were doing was good and just, continued to strike the three unfortunate men until their bodies were crushed and no longer looked like human bodies—they were merely piles of shattered flesh and broken bones! When everyone felt satisfied, and also began to feel horror at the result of their actions, they stopped mobbing the three corpses and entered the Kwa family home.

Sin Liong was not there! It seems this boy, whose soul had just been shaken and deeply wounded by seeing his parents hacked and murdered, felt his spirit further crushed when he saw the three murderers being mobbed and tortured. The wounds in his heart multiplied, and he could no longer bear it. He saw the faces of all those people as the faces of demons, with eyes blazing with hatred and vengeance, filled with the lust to kill, their mouths agape as if sharp fangs and teeth were visible, ready to bite their opponents and suck their blood.

He felt terrified, feeling as if sharp fangs and teeth were visible, ready to bite his opponents and suck their blood. He felt terrified, feeling as if he were among a pack of demons. Thus, sobbing uncontrollably, Sin Liong ran away from that place, leaving his home, leaving the city of Kun-leng, running continuously toward the mountains that looked from afar like a reclining human figure—a powerful divine being who would protect him from the pursuit of those demons! Like someone who had lost his mind, Sin Liong ran all night until the next day. Exhausted, he stumbled at the foot of Jeng-hoa-san Mountain Range, sometimes tripping and falling face down, only to get up and run again, staggering until finally, early the next morning, he collapsed unconscious in a forest on the lower slopes of Jeng-hoa-san.

After regaining consciousness, this five-year-old boy continued his journey, and a few days later, he arrived at a forest full of flowers, as it happened to be springtime. Along the path climbing the mountain, whenever he felt hungry, the boy picked fruits and ate leaves, choosing those that tasted fresh and not bitter, thus preventing starvation. In that Forest of a Thousand Flowers (*Hutan Seribu Bunga*), Sin Liong was mesmerized, feeling as if he were living in another realm, another world. It was a quiet and clean place, devoid of any human presence. Whenever he thought of humans, he shuddered and cried from fear and horror. He had witnessed terrible cruelties. Not only the cruelty of the people who took his parents' lives, forcing his parents to part from him and die, but also the cruelty of dozens of neighbors who tortured the three men until they died and their bodies were destroyed.

He shuddered and was terrified whenever he remembered it. It was within the Forest of a Thousand Flowers (*Hutan Seribu Bunga*) that he felt security, cleanliness, and a soothing tranquility. Initially, Sin Liong had no intention of returning to his city because he still felt horrified; he did not want to see his blood-soaked parents, nor did he want to see the mutilated corpses of the three thieves. When he arrived in the Jeng-hoa-san forest and saw how his body and clothes were stained with foul-smelling blood, he quickly bathed and washed his clothes in a stream found in the forest—a stream whose water came from a spring, crystal clear and very cool.

Initially, he truly did not want to go home due to the horror in his heart, but after two or three months of "hiding"

In that place, his love for the Forest of a Thousand Flowers grew, and now he did not want to return at all, for he had come to regard the forest as his new home! Near a large *peak* tree, there was a rocky hill, and there he found a cave large enough to be used as a dwelling, a place to shelter from rain and wind. He cleaned this cave, and it became a very pleasant place. Thus, the boy was completely unaware that his parents' wealth, as they had no other family or relatives, had become the object of contention among the neighbors until it was completely plundered! Under the pretense of "securing"

The valuables from the empty house, the neighbors had enriched themselves.

These people still did not know, or did not understand, that they had repeated the actions of the three thieves whom they had jointly mobbed and killed. They, too, committed theft, although their method was not "as crude"

As that performed by the thieves. If judged, the theft committed by these neighbors and "friends"

Was far dirtier and baser than that committed by the three thieves before, because those thieves committed theft intentionally and openly—they were thieves, without any pretense, and their crime was indeed overt, as people who took the belongings of others when the owner was distracted or asleep. However, what the neighbors did was veiled theft.

Under the guise of "helping"

Thus, if measured, their crime was twofold: first, evil like a common thief for taking and claiming the property of others; second, evil for being hypocritical, committing a crime under the cloak of "goodness." Thus, for two years, this five-year-old boy lived alone in the Forest of a Thousand Flowers. As the son of a medical expert, even though he was only five years old, Sin Liong knew a little about medicinal leaves and roots; he had even often accompanied his father searching for herbs in the mountains. Now that he lived alone in the forest, his talent for medicinal knowledge was tested and nurtured by nature. He had to eat every day, and for this necessity, he had become skilled through experience in choosing which leaves were efficacious, which were tasty, and which were poisonous, and so on.

During those two years, with his clothes tattered beyond repair, he often fell ill, and through this experience, he was able to select medicinal leaves and roots, not from prior knowledge, but from practical experience. Perhaps because there was nothing else to occupy his thoughts, the boy was able to dedicate all his attention to recognizing these medicinal leaves, roots, fruits, and flowers, such that his sense of smell became extremely acute regarding the efficacy of herbs. By merely smelling them, he could determine what properties a leaf, flower, fruit, or root contained! The saying that experience is the wisest teacher was certainly not wrong.

Of course, those words only prove true if a person possesses a sense of affection for what they are doing. And indeed, deep within Sin Liong's heart, he possessed an affection that gave rise to pleasure, and this pleasure led to diligence in studying the properties of the countless varieties of flowers and leaves growing in the Forest of a Thousand Flowers. Besides studying the properties of plants, not only for daily sustenance but also for medicine, Sin Liong had another passion that arose from his love for nature—a complete love that likely stemmed from his feeling of living utterly alone, and also arose from the cruelty that scarred his soul when he witnessed the actions of humans during the deaths of his parents and the three thieves.