"You old geezer! How can you be so slow at such a simple job?"
"And you, you little crippled bastard! Quit pretending to be dead! Until you've chopped all the firewood today, nobody gets to eat!"
A group of servants dressed in fine clothes and wearing arrogant expressions surrounded a ragged old man and a frail child.
The old man's hair and beard were completely white, his face deeply lined, and his back so hunched he could barely stand upright.
He was kneeling on the ground, shielding the child in his arms as a rain of lashes fell across his thin back.
The child looked even smaller than Shi Hao, with a sallow, emaciated face. One of his legs seemed to be disabled. He huddled in the old man's arms, trembling, his large eyes full of fear.
"Stop!"
The old man's voice was hoarse as he pleaded desperately.
"Qingfeng is still young, and he's sick... Please, I'm begging you, stop hitting him..."
"Sick? He'd be better off dead!"
The servant leading them gave a cruel laugh and brought his whip down hard.
"Orders from above say we only have to leave him breathing. Letting this little bastard live is a waste of food!"
"Crack!"
The whip struck, tearing open flesh.
The old man shuddered in pain, but gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound. He only clutched the child tighter.
"Stop!"
A shrill roar, childish yet filled with overwhelming fury, suddenly rang out.
Little Shi Hao's eyes turned red the instant he saw what was happening.
He didn't know the old man or the child, but he could feel how fiercely the old man was protecting the child—just like Grandpa Clan Chief protected him.
"You bunch of bullies!"
Little Shi Hao charged forward like a little lion in a rage.
"Where did this wild kid come from?"
The servants froze. Before they could react, a fist rapidly grew larger in their vision.
"Bang!"
The servant with the whip was sent flying more than ten meters with a single punch. He crashed into a wall, his chest caving in. He passed out without even managing to scream.
The others were terrified.
What... what kind of freakish strength did this child have?
"Want to keep hitting them?"
Little Shi Hao stood in front of the old man and child. An astonishing aura burst from his small body, and a Cave Heaven faintly appeared behind him.
"A c-cultivator?!"
The remaining servants turned pale and spun around to flee.
"Did I say you could leave?"
A cold voice, like a whisper from the god of death, sounded in their ears.
Ye Xuan had appeared at the courtyard gate without anyone noticing.
He wore white robes as pristine as snow, untouched by a speck of dust, utterly out of place in the filthy courtyard.
But the chill in his eyes seemed to freeze the air around them.
The servants saw Ye Xuan and thought they were looking at a demon who had crawled out of hell.
"G-Great sir, spare us! We're from the Yu Clan..."
One of them tried to invoke his backing.
"The Yu Clan?"
A mocking smile curled Ye Xuan's lips.
"The Yu Clan is exactly who I'm here to kill."
Before his words had even faded,
Ye Xuan simply raised a hand and gave the air a light squeeze.
"Crack."
Several sharp snaps sounded at once.
The fleeing servants' heads twisted around as if gripped by an invisible hand. Their bodies crumpled limply to the ground.
They died instantly.
Ye Xuan had never been stingy with his murderous intent toward lackeys who bullied others by flaunting their power.
Silence returned to the courtyard.
The old man shakily raised his head, disbelief filling his cloudy eyes.
He looked at Little Shi Hao standing in front of him, then at the white-robed youth by the gate, who seemed almost divine.
"You... you are..."
The old man's voice trembled.
He could sense that the two of them, one large and one small, carried the same bloodline as he did.
Especially the little one.
Those features, that expression... He looked just like that child from years ago.
"Are you... Hao'er?"
Tears spilled from the old man's eyes.
Little Shi Hao turned to look at the elderly man, who seemed to be at death's door. His memories were blurred, but the feeling of kinship, deep as blood, made his nose sting.
"Great-grandpa..."
The words slipped out instinctively.
"Yes! Yes! It's Hao'er! It really is Hao'er!"
The old man tried to stand, overcome with emotion, but he was too weak and badly injured. He had barely moved when he broke into a violent cough, black blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Don't move, sir."
Ye Xuan walked over.
Looking at the old man's nearly spent body, Ye Xuan's eyes flashed with pity.
This old man had endured endless torment here to protect Shi Qingfeng, Shi Hao's substitute.
Such loyalty deserved respect.
Ye Xuan opened his palm.
A drop of water radiating three-colored divine light floated above it.
Three Lights Divine Water.
"Open your mouth,"
Ye Xuan said softly.
The old man instinctively opened his mouth.
The divine water slid down his throat.
Boom!
A vast vitality beyond description erupted inside the old man.
His depleted blood and qi were like a dried-up riverbed suddenly flooded. In an instant, they surged back to life.
His wounds healed at a visible speed, and even his old, hidden ailments vanished without a trace.
His graying hair began to turn black.
The wrinkles on his face slowly smoothed away.
"This... What is this..."
The old man was too shocked to speak.
He could feel that not only had his injuries healed, but his cultivation was even on the verge of a breakthrough.
This had to be the legendary Divine Medicine!
"I just gave you a little tonic."
Ye Xuan smiled without explaining further.
He turned to the child who was still huddled in the old man's arms.
Shi Qingfeng.
The child who had suffered in Shi Hao's place.
He was watching Ye Xuan and Little Shi Hao timidly, with envy and insecurity in his eyes.
"Qingfeng."
Ye Xuan reached out and gently patted his head.
"Your hard days are over."
"From now on, you'll come with us."
"No one will dare bully you again."
Shi Qingfeng stared blankly at Ye Xuan. Feeling the warmth on his head, he began to cry, tears pattering down one after another.
After dealing with the aftermath, Ye Xuan didn't linger in the ancestral lands.
This was, after all, a place rife with trouble, and the Yu Clan had many spies here.
He wasn't afraid of them, but there was no need to waste time.
"Let's go. We're heading to the Sky-Mending Pavilion."
Ye Xuan summoned the Azure Sky Roc.
When the old man saw the fierce bird at the Array Forming Realm, he nearly fell to his knees again.
"A mount at the Array Forming Realm?!"
The old man looked at Ye Xuan with newfound awe.
He had thought Ye Xuan was merely a guardian of Shi Hao's, or perhaps a prodigy from some great sect.
But now it seemed the youth's power might even surpass that of the current Stone Emperor!
And someone like him was Hao'er's big brother?
The heavens truly favored the Shi Clan!
Several days later,
a majestic, beautiful mountain appeared before them.
The mountain soared into the clouds. Amid swirling mists, they could make out pavilions and towers, with immortal cranes dancing through the sky.
At its foot, a sea of people stretched as far as the eye could see.
Gifted youths from all kinds of clans, accompanied by their families, streamed toward the mountain gate like fish crossing a river.
It was the day the Sky-Mending Pavilion recruited disciples.
As a renowned ancient sect in the lower realm, the Sky-Mending Pavilion had extremely strict entrance trials.
Countless people fought tooth and nail for the chance to become an outer sect disciple.
"There are so many people!"
Little Shi Hao lay on the bird's back, gazing at the dense crowd below and rubbing his hands in excitement.
"Now I can really make a splash!"
Ye Xuan stood atop the Azure Sky Roc, his robes fluttering, his expression calm.
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