Spawning Cultivators

Han was awoken from his slumber by gunshots. Numerous gunshots, making it seem as if a war was raging outside. He mumbled a complaint as he paced out his door. Out in the hallway, he saw the four teens all barging out of their respective rooms. Andrew seemed pissed, Alicia was sweating all over, and Cole and Lewis were signaling at each other to go. They rushed over, and Han did so as well.

Quickly they ran down the stairs, bumping with the other guards who were also alerted by the sounds of gunfire.

"Is it zombies?!" A thug said,

"I don't know! That's why we're going there to find out!" Another thug answered, visibly annoyed.

They reached the hallway and bolted outside to where the gunshots were coming from. There were no zombies at all. Out in the prison yard, illuminated by the moon accompanied by the muzzle flashes were a lot of people fighting with martial arts.

People who had blood all over their bodies were dodging and weaving all the thugs who were attacking them. The faces of the thugs were contorted into frightened expressions as even more climbed up a hole that used to be full of supposedly dead bodies.

"What the fuck! I killed you!" A thug held his pistol with wobbly hands as he kept shooting at a woman who was bloodied all over. The woman screamed out in despair and died. Similar scenes were happening throughout the prison yard. People who were killed were back, and now they were fighting back with martial arts.

"Where am I?"

"What the devil are those loud things?!" A man shrieked as he ducked from gunfire.

"Fight me with you're fist you cowards!"

They were reincarnations.

"You're all courting death!" A thin man gracefully flipped over several thugs and landed on a corpse with a machine gun beside it. Han's brow furrowed and he hid behind cover. The others noticed and followed his lead just as the thin man opened fire at everything.

"Kill these mortals!" A cultivator yelled,

"You fools! Pay the price for ins--" With Han's energy sense he saw the man get hit by a rock. This rock plunged into the right of his skull and exited through the left. He fell to the ground and blood splattered all over the concrete. An overbearing presence instantly pressed down on everybody within the vicinity.

"Those who move, die!" The 'Patriarch' has arrived. No one moved at all. Like children caught roughhousing they stopped. Han took in a breath as he watched the big man march with his chest high and his expression plastered with arrogance.

"Men! Stand down!" He lowered his gaze onto the thugs and then turned to look at the reincarnated souls, "I suppose I don't have to explain to you what's happening, you are reincarnated. Your, or rather, the memories of the owners of your bodies will explain enough."

"B-But Boss? Reincarnation? They must be infected, sir..." The thug asked with quivering legs,

The 'Patriarch' scowled, he slowly twisted his head to look at everyone around him. An aura of cold descended from out of nowhere as he raised his palm and revealed a phoenix of ice. All the thugs seemed to fall into a state of shock while the reincarnated people seemed delighted at the sight of a cultivator to welcome them to the new world.

"You do not have to know anything at all." Shards of ice started to raise up from the ground. It crept up the legs of all the thugs, up to their thighs, their chest, and finally to their heads. Just before it could fully encapsulate them, it halted.

"What matters is you understand that this is no longer your world. But if you follow my orders completely, then I could make you a part of this new era as people with extraordinary abilities." Slowly, the ice around their bodies melted. However, none of the guards moved for about a minute, some even collapsed on the ground.

They weren't all shocked. It was easily visible that those thugs that stood strong wanted power. A power that they couldn't understand but would die to possess. These thugs were the ones with their eyes glinting wild with ambition.

Even Andrew, Alicia, Cole, and Lewis seemed to be excited. Reality had been shattered for them, but what was normal had long been broken down ever since flesh-eating zombies appeared.

Han stood still with a grave expression on his face. This man was perhaps truly fitted to be a Patriarch. Just now when the Patriarch froze all those men, Han could finally discern his level of cultivation.

It wasn't something Han could handle at all. A mighty martial commander, a whole rank above martial warrior. He was screwed. There was no hope at all in stealing back his items, and women. He had to earn them as rewards. Hopefully, they could be deemed as rewards if not then well...

He could simply ask for them specifically if he had enough prestige to his name. They wouldn't deny such an important person of such simple things right? It was time to show off once again.

"From now on, forget your past affiliations, your past sects, your old masters. Be honored, as you have all been reborn anew as disciples of the Ice Phoenix Sect, the first sect that this world will ever encounter." The Patriarch said, "The sect that will own the world!"

Ambition, it is what drives a man. The Patriarch used this perfectly, in mere moments he enthralled the majority of the reborn cultivators to be by his side. However, there were always people that differed from the majority.

"Wait! I want to go back." A middle-aged man said,

"Go back?" The Patriarch chuckled, "There is no way to go back!"

Han frowned. He was obviously given a mission to do by Hanne, this Patriarch saying there is no way back was just so he can make the cultivators stay in the sect.

The middle-aged man who asked to question went quiet. He nodded his head in understanding and so did the others who wanted to go back. Once it was silent the Patriach continued,

"I am the Patriarch, and you will addre--"

"You? The patriarch? I have not lived for thousands of years to be a mere disciple, I am the Patriarch of the Dead Ma--" The interruption was also interrupted as the Patriarch flicked a spike of ice into the man's skull.

"Core disciples," The Patriarch called, "come here."

He looked at Han and the others, then waved with his hand to come over. They obeyed, with their legs feeling heavy as they approached him.

"I don't care whoever you were in the past world. Even if you were a legendary hero or a famous master, I don't give a damn. Right now, the kids of this world can defeat you easily, therefore you don't have any right to act arrogant in front of me." The Patriarch declared,

Han snickered in his heart. The Patriarch had just placed a target on their backs. The fragile pride of these cultivators would be threatened, they would fight to prove that Han and the others could be easily defeated. It would have been a pain in the ass, but this is exactly what Han needs to gain prestige.

Andrew puffed his chest out as he raised his head. Cole and Lewis were more subdued of showing their pride, nonetheless, they were still smug. Alicia on the other hand seemed to have realized what the Patriarch had done and lowered her head to avoid meeting the dissatisfied gazes of the cultivators.

"Come! Let us proceed to the examination grounds. The core disciples have already taken care of every enemy, therefore, you will be facing me. All of you." The Patriarch turned and started to pace away, "Mortals! Clean up the bodies. And someone teach those kids how to shoot."

At his words, all the guards moved instantly. Han eyed a familiar person going towards them, it was Jacob. One of the men who took his bag, and Amelia. This man had a presence that emitted discipline and seriousness, however, he was flustered and it showed despite his attempts to mask it.

"Core disciples, follow me to the armory," he said as he tried to still his shivering body, Han didn't know if it was from cold or from fear. Jacob walked with his rifle held tightly in one hand, he let it sway along as he walked.

Nothing but the sounds of dragging bodies and grunting thugs were heard from behind as they reached a two-story structure by the main building. Jacob led them downstairs and in front of a vault door. Jacob covered it with his tall body, but with energy sense, Han saw him press numbers on the keypad.

He turned the handle and led them inside. The sight of multitudes of guns stacked along various shelves made Han's heart leap out in joy. If he could have a gun and master it, he would be unstoppable.

Quickly he reached out to grab an RPK. Yet before he could even touch it with the tip of his fingers, he was alerted by the sounds of the vault door slamming shut. Jacob had closed it.

He was breathing heavily as he glanced at Han and the others who were already planning to fight. Andrew had his hands up high and from his palms came a luminescent dark blue light. Jacob gawked at it for a long time.

"Teach me." he said, "Teach me their magic."

Andrew scoffed, "Hmph! Why should we do that?"

"I'll give you full access to the armory." Jacob's eyes didn't waver. He was still shivering, but now Han was sure that this man wasn't shivering due to fear of the Patriarch at all.

Han raised an eyebrow. He passed Andrew and paced closer to the tall muscular man. His eyes met his and he proceeded to ask.

"You can't possibly be thinking of fighting the Patriarch are you?" Han asked in all seriousness,

"No," Jacob answered, but his eyes were rampant with fighting spirit. "I want to withstand the cold is all."

Han looked back at his classmates, his lips slowly twisting into a smirk. Access to the armory was like being given all sorts of weapons that could save one's life. It was a privilege that Han just couldn't deny.