Chapter 50: Chapter 49: 4-finger Creator
The figure carving behind a pile of stones trembled slightly at Zhong Yi’s words but still didn’t look up.
"Since you know I’m a Four-finger Creator, you must also know why I’m living like this in this little shop."
At this, the figure sighed.
He staggered to his feet from behind a workbench piled high with stone, steadying himself with a thick, calloused hand against the wall as he emerged.
He was a middle-aged man with sharp, defined features. Though a beard covered nearly half his face, it was still easy to see that he had once been quite handsome.
But aside from his face, the man’s body could only be described as shattered.
His left leg was gone from the knee down, his right leg was severed at the hip, and his right arm was missing from the shoulder. Only his left hand remained whole.
Rather than fitting his ruined body with prosthetics, the man had simply used cloth strips to tightly lash a wooden staff to his stumps.
As the man shuffled sideways out into the open, Zhong Yi could see a fist-sized indentation in the left side of his skull.
It was hard to imagine what sort of trials the man must have endured.
"My wood and stone carvings are decent enough. If you’re planning to buy something, take your time and look around. If you’re just here to mock me, get out."
With that, the man bent down with great effort, picked up a block of stone not much larger than a man’s head, and set it beside his workbench.
Zhong Yi showed no sign of leaving, nor did he look at the masterfully carved wood and stone sculptures.
Instead, he wiped the dust from a wooden stool near the entrance and sat down firmly.
"You can’t even mix the most basic Attribute Potions anymore?"
"’Then again, if you could still mix Attribute Potions, you’d at least be considered a Creator. You wouldn’t need to wield Soul Power with Six-finger Level control just to carve these little trinkets with a file.’"
At these words, the man slammed the file in his hand onto the workbench. The impact popped a Button on his chest, revealing a corner of a Beast Pattern so damaged it was almost unrecognizable.
"To think I’ve fallen so low as to be mocked by a mere child!"
"Just go. I don’t want to argue with you. And don’t ever come back to my shop."
Zhong Yi simply raised an eyebrow, continuing as if he hadn’t heard the man’s attempt to drive him away.
"The Beast Pattern is still there, which means your Guardian Beasts haven’t died. Don’t you want to heal them and go back to being a respected Four-finger Creator?"
The man had been seething with fury, but now, hearing Zhong Yi’s words, he couldn’t help but let out a pair of mocking laughs.
It was a wild, unhinged laugh!
"Heal my Guardian Beasts and my injuries?"
"Heh. If they could be healed, do you think you’d even have the chance to stand here spouting nonsense at me?"
At that, the man habitually reached for the wine flask on his workbench, only to awkwardly pull his hand back when he felt how light it was.
’In the Xin Xia Federation, there were publicly only four Creators who had condensed six Soul Fingers, and twenty-six who had condensed five.’
’Even the number of Creators who had condensed four Soul Fingers, while greater, wasn’t much higher than the number of Celestial Destiny Seekers.’
’He remembered how glorious he’d once been. Even after suffering a life-threatening catastrophe, countless major powers had come to his door to pay their respects.’
’But once those powers realized his injuries were permanent, and they had no way to help him recover, his home became deserted within a year.’
’After he moved from Zhuxue City to Starlight City, the major powers of Starlight City found him as well.’
’His physical injuries looked devastating, but the real reason he could no longer channel Soul Power and act as a Creator was the wound to his head.’
’If he could still mix Potions, his two old companions wouldn’t be slumbering in his Soul Base, gravely injured.’
’The thought of the Origin wounds his two old companions had suffered made the man’s left hand clench into a tight fist.’
’This winter... his two old companions probably wouldn’t survive...’
Just as the man was lost in his thoughts, the youth’s clear voice rang out again from the doorway.
"You can’t accept this, can you!"
"If someone could heal your injuries and those of your Guardian Beasts, allowing you to become a Four-finger Creator again, what would you do?"
Had Zhong Yi said this back when Zhao Kai was first injured, he might have hesitated and considered it.
But now, after dragging this broken body along for so many years, barely clinging to life, the world-weary Zhao Kai had long known the answer.
Before, Zhao Kai, the Four-finger Creator, had never pledged himself to any powerful figure. At his core, he was not a man who liked to be controlled.
However, years ago, every time he met with one of the great powers, Zhao Kai had desperately hoped they might have a way to cure him.
He would rather be exploited by one of those powers for the rest of his life than continue to live like this—a useless wreck with no dignity.
A Creator unable to even protect his own Guardian Beasts, forced to watch as their Origin was damaged and their Life force drained away.
Every moment, the feeling was like a thousand arrows piercing his heart!
After so many years of hardship, the once proud and defiant Four-finger Creator had been utterly broken by his own powerlessness.
Normally, with Zhao Kai’s temper, he would have thrown out anyone who tried to fool him with such outlandish talk long ago.
But now, Zhong Yi’s words resonated with the hopes and dreams Zhao Kai had harbored for years, and he calmed down, speaking with self-deprecation.
"Do you have any idea what it would cost to completely heal my injuries, child?"
"I doubt anyone in this world even has that kind of power!"
"If such a day truly came... I would offer everything I have. Even if I could never become a Four-finger Creator again, and even if my two Guardian Beasts’ injuries could never fully heal... as long as someone could just let them live on, even in their broken state, I would do anything they asked."
Zhao Kai was a realist. He knew perfectly well that he no longer had any value.
When you’re at the top, people flock to you for a mere cough.
But when you fall into the gutter, those same followers turn into ravenous wolves.
Scenes from the past few years flashed before his eyes, and Zhao Kai let out a bitter laugh.
"Alright, you’ve asked your questions. You can go now."
"We’ve spoken at length, so I suppose that makes us acquainted."
"It’s difficult for me to move. Close the door on your way out. I’m closed for the day."
Zhao Kai was about to sit back down at his stone-covered workbench and calm his mind through carving.
But then he saw the youth—the one who had been sitting on the stool, piercing him with sharp questions—calmly rise to his feet and walk toward him.
As he approached, the youth activated his Soul Base. A Guardian Beast appeared in his palm—it was crimson, covered in long, slender, blood-red spines.
From a distance, it looked just like a freshly picked Fire Dragon Fruit.
"As for what it would cost to heal you and your two Guardian Beasts, I honestly don’t know."
"But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible."
