VAGRANTS
Tied to Time

After being beaten up by the villagers, Qi Ling woke up in an extremely embarrassing position. His body was allowed to hang in the air, his long hair falling down, parallel to his feet. His hands were tied behind his hips, he was not fed, as if the monk wanted Qi Ling to die slowly.

The monk occasionally came out of the temple to watch Qi Ling still hanging.

"Fucking monk, why don't you kill me?" Inner Qi Ling.

"Hmm, so you're alive?" Yin Chen.

"Kill me." Inner Qi Ling. "Solve this and kill me!!"

Yin Chen left Qi Ling, then entered the temple. "Why are you embarrassing me?"

"Kill or be killed. Slash everyone and die in a deadly battle. That's my. I am always ready to accept the consequences. So please, kill me!!"

The water droplets from the crying sky forced the two crows that had been circling Qi Ling to fly away looking for a place to shelter. The rain is getting heavier. Chou Yu's pity made the woman want to go out there to meet Qi Ling. Just as the plywood door was about to be shifted, Yin Chen came and held Chou Yu down and pulled her inside.

"I told you; don't go there." Rigorously.

"But it's raining outside."

"Chou Yu's..." Yin Chen stalled the girl into a room. "If you see Qi Ling hanging on top of a tree, you'd want to take it off, wouldn't you?"

Chou Yu nodded slowly, making the man in front of him grunt and smile. "Then from that, you're not allowed to go out there."

"I feel like I lied to him." Honest Chou Yu.

"But Qi Ling didn't feel that way."

In the rain that day. Qi Yuan, the most respected woman in the village, looked at Qi Ling who was hanging on top of a tree with a heartbreaking look.

"It brings a lot of memories, doesn't it?" Qi Yuan asked, then wiped his tears.

In the past, at such a young age, Qi Ling had always climbed up a cold tree in front of the house, making Qi Yuan always scold her for fear that she would fall.

Now, Qi Ling would not fall, but Qi Yuan kept praying for the boy to quickly descend from up there.

"It's cold, it's freezing. I hope we meet tomorrow." Pamit Qi Yuan's.

The next morning, on a clear morning, the woman actually came back. He was frightened because Qi Ling looked so weak, but the man let out his urine, right before Qi Yuan reported to Yin Chen. "Thank God." The Qi Yuan.

"Fuckin' monk. Get out here and end this."

Yin Chen was silent in front of the temple door, once again just silent and noticed Qi Ling who was being stoned by the villagers.

"How did I end up like this?" Inner Qi Ling.

You are the weakest man in the village.

"No. That's not true. I never lost to anyone. I. I just want to be stronger. I just wanted to see Mom one more time, and show her how far I've progressed. I need to become stronger, I want to be strong so that I don't need to rely on others.

Yep... I will become stronger, and I will become the strongest man among the 2 kingdoms.

That's why I went to war.

But why...?

Why did I end up like this?"

The voice of the woman who was grumbling with difficulty below him, woke Qi Ling from the dreamland. The woman was Chou Yu, she was trying to give Qi Ling a warm potato meal, using a bamboo stick as a delivery.

"Eat, Qi Ling." Please Chou Yu. "Yin Chen forbid me to let you go."

"Ja-- Don't-" "Don't mind me, Chou Yu."

"If you don't eat, you'll die." Light Chou Yu, before pushing his bamboo higher. However, in the middle of the road, the balance disappeared. The potatoes placed on the bamboo tip fell down, and the stick ended up beating Qi Ling's face and leaving bruises.

"Sorry! I'm sorry Qi Ling!" Please Chou Yu. His loud voice, woke Yin Chen from his sleep, and made the bald-headed man go outside the temple to check what was happening. The moment Yin Chen put his eyes on the Qi Ling tree, Chou Yu had already disappeared from there.

Without a care, Yin Chen went back inside the temple whistling as if excited.

"Please, kill me..."

In the morning, as usual. Qi Yuan came to visit while crying. In the afternoon and evening, some heads of the family came to punish Qi Ling by throwing him a small stone, or beating him with a bamboo stick. Towards evening, Yin Chen walked out of his temple, and approached Qi Ling for the first time after a long time.

Qi Ling who could not stand it anymore began to flinch. His eyes were angry, and he begged seriously. He shouted indistinctly, as if scolding Yin Chen who had let him continue to live in the company of many torments.

"Great, you still have the rest of your strength?" Yin Chen.

Qi Ling puked. His throat, stomach and head were in great pain after that.

"You'll die if you don't save your energy." Remember Yin Chen.

"Why don't you let me die as a soldier? I'm not afraid of death!" Inner Qi Ling. His teeth were bluffing fiercely, his breathing was hasty.

"You must be tired of the view from up there." Yin Chen. His hands folded forward, as if judging. "So why don't you take a good look at yourself?"

Hearing that, Qi Ling fell silent. He closed his eyes, to look at himself. "Fucking monk. What's there besides darkness?"

After Yin Chen's departure, Chou Yu came over while carrying a potato and a long piece of bamboo that had been used as a weapon during the afternoon to beat up Qi Ling.

"For now, we'll do it right." Chou Yu said. "I'll take these potatoes up there. But you should also try to accept it."

"Open your mouth wide, so you can eat these potatoes." The Pinta Chou Yu.

Qi Ling who was originally timid, finally opened her mouth as wide as possible. Chou Yu smiled happily after realizing, that Qi Ling still had the desire to live.

But that happiness, made him make a mistake and ended up dropping the potato for the second time.

"sorry. But tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll do it right. Okay?"

Yin Chen who had just finished his morning shower laughed out loud, when he saw Qi Ling who was being dredged by the crow. "Listen to that crow." Yin Chen's. "It's as if they're begging you to die soon, isn't it?"

Qi Ling glared in surprise, his saliva flowing down his face.

"So you want to die with honor? Death of a soldier? Hmph! You're selfish." Yin Chen. "Every person you kill has his own life. Whether life is blessed or not, everyone is born into this world, and they grow up. Some people are aware of this and they choose to have a family, but some are also unconscious and choose to live alone in this world. Some of them have children, some are engaged. Some have pets. Some of them had high hopes and good dreams, some of them also had no ambition at all."

"You ended all that for them, Qi Ling. You killed them." Yin Chen. "What gives you the privilege of choosing when and how you want to die?"

"Die with honor? Who do you think you are, Qi Ling?" Ask Yin Chen. "You took another life just for your own safety, and now you want to die honorable? you're just selfish!"

Rainwater drops back. "Sweet rain." Yin Chen Sahut. "Heaven't let you die of drought under the sun. They're not so forgiving."

Yin Chen panted, leaving Qi Ling who was crying incessantly.

Qi Yuan came to visit as usual. This time he brought a sharp knife with him, the knife he used to try to kill Qi Ling with his own hands.

"How could you still be alive, Qi Ling?" Mumbled the woman. "It hangs shamefully on the tree."

"Wet drenched by the rain, scorched by the sun, pee dry at your feet, and you're still alive, stubbornly you hold on– as if you had a higher purpose, you have a higher purpose, but you're getting dirty and getting miserable by the day." Qi Yuan. "If heaven and hell are real, assassins like you and traitors like Qi Feng have been cursed.you guys are destined to go to hell, and if it is destined to be like that, then, then let me send you there and put an end to your suffering in this world."

Qi Yuan cut off Qi Ling's rope, making the man fall to the ground very weakly. Just as Qi Yuan was about to kill Qi Ling, his body trembled extremely violently. He dropped the knife in his hand, then took off his clothes to give milk to the lying man.

"Drink." The Pinta Qi Yuan.

Qi Ling grabbed the milk, and sucked it deeply.

He wants to live.

Yin Chen who witnessed the incident only smiled in silence. "Mother's love is beyond everything."

The moment Qi Yuan realized Yin Chen's existence, he immediately begged for mercy on him in order for Yin Chen to spare Qi Ling's life.

"I don't take revenge on Qi Ling, I just follow the Buddha's path."