When the young man rushed in, three noble children were snatching away the child's cloth bundle and dumping it onto the ground to rummage through the herbs inside. At the sound of footsteps, all three turned. They froze for a moment when they saw him charging toward them.
"Who are you? Looking to stick your nose where it doesn't belong?" The leader planted his hands on his hips and lifted his chin, his tone still arrogant. They recognized his coarse cloth clothes and knew he was a commoner. They gave him no consideration at all.
The young man said nothing. He strode forward and reached out to shield the child behind him. Taller than all three of them, he stood with his back straight, blocking their way like a wall.
"Get lost." His voice was quiet, but it carried a force he could barely contain.
The three noble children exchanged glances and laughed. "Where did this pauper come from? You dare meddle in our business? You're asking for a beating!"
One of them charged at him, swinging a fist. The young man sidestepped and gave him a push. The child lost his footing, staggered backward several steps, and fell to the ground.
Seeing that, the other two rushed him together. The young man remained calm, his footwork steady. Clearly, he had trained in basic hand-to-hand combat. He held back, merely blocking their attacks before using their momentum to push them away one by one.
The three children looked fierce, but their moves were all empty flourishes. They could bully anyone weaker than themselves, but against someone with actual training, they were nowhere near enough.
Within a few exchanges, all three had been shoved to the ground, covered in dust and thoroughly disheveled. Sitting there, they finally looked at the young man with a little fear.
They could tell that he really dared to fight, and that even the three of them together were no match for him.
"Just you wait! We'll tell our families, and you'll have more trouble than you can swallow!" The leader spat out his threat, scrambled up, and tried to run.
The young man took a step forward. All three shuddered in fright and fled the alley, stumbling and scrambling. They did not even dare return for the jade pendant they had dropped.
At last, the alley fell quiet.
The young man turned to look at the child behind him. The child was still standing there, eyes red, looking at him with a little fear and a little gratitude.
The young man crouched, gathered the scattered herbs, wrapped them in the cloth again, and handed the bundle back. "It's all right now. They're gone."
The child took the bundle and hugged it tightly, murmured, "Thank you, big brother," then turned and ran. After a few steps, the child glanced back at him.
The young man stood there, watching the child's retreating figure. A feeling he had never known before welled up inside him, warm and swelling, as though something had risen from the depths of his heart and tightened his throat.
He had always thought cultivation was about finding a decent job someday, earning more money, treating his mother's illness, and making their lives a little better. He had never imagined he could protect someone else, or drive away those who bullied others.
This feeling was even more satisfying than breaking through a minor cultivation realm.
"How does it feel?"
A familiar voice came from the mouth of the alley. The young man turned and saw Shen Fei approaching, wearing the same indifferent expression, as though he had expected this outcome all along.
The young man pressed his lips together and said nothing, but his expression said it all. His tense shoulders had relaxed a little, and his eyes were much brighter, free of the heavy oppression that had weighed on them before.
Shen Fei stopped in front of him and looked at him. "What do you plan to do next?"
The young man lifted his head, his gaze firm. "Keep cultivating. Get stronger. Beat every last one of them."
By "them," he did not mean only the noble children from today. He meant everyone who used their status to bully others, every injustice pressing down on commoners' heads.
He would grow stronger-strong enough that no one dared bully him at will, strong enough to protect the people he wanted to protect.
Looking at the light in his eyes, Shen Fei suddenly smiled. This smile was different from his earlier one, carrying a hint of approval. He said little, merely nodding.
"Not bad."
With that, he turned and headed out of the alley, waving a hand in farewell.
Watching his retreating figure, the young man suddenly felt a surge of urgency. He still did not know this man's name, or whether they would ever meet again. What the man had said today had opened his eyes.
If he let him leave like this, he would not even have properly thanked him.
"Wait!" the young man shouted, his voice echoing through the alley.
Shen Fei paused without turning around.
"My name is Su Ming!" Standing where he was, the young man shouted with all his strength. "I won't stop here! I'll get stronger, no matter what!"
With his back to him, Shen Fei's lips curved slightly. He raised a hand and waved, his voice drifting back on the wind.
"Let's see what you can do."
Then he continued forward, rounded a corner, and disappeared from the mouth of the alley.
Su Ming stood there, staring at the empty alley entrance, his fists clenched. He etched those words firmly into his heart. Let's see what you can do.
He would prove himself. The next time they met, he would make sure this man knew that his guidance today had not been wasted.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands. These hands had just pushed away three noble children and protected a child. In the future, they could do much more.
Su Ming drew a deep breath, turned, and left the alley too. He no longer thought about the spilled brown rice, nor did he fear retaliation from those noble children.
Only one thought filled his mind now: cultivate, cultivate with everything he had. Only by becoming stronger could he safeguard his life and shatter those injustices.
Meanwhile, Shen Fei had reached the entrance to the Black Market. He gathered his thoughts and set the little incident aside.
He had merely happened upon a somewhat interesting young man and offered a few casual words of guidance. A person chose his own path. How far Su Ming could travel depended entirely on his own fortune.
If even that little guidance could not get him on his feet, there would be nothing worth caring about. If he truly managed to carve out a path with that determination, he might prove useful someday.
Glory City appeared peaceful, but dark currents surged beneath its surface.
The Dark Guild was laying plans in the shadows, and the Demon Beast Tide would come sooner or later. Once the city fell, no one would escape, noble or commoner. One more person willing to fight with everything he had meant one more source of strength to defend the city.
Shen Fei put those thoughts aside, straightened his clothes, lowered the brim of his hat, and entered the Black Market. The familiar murky smell of the mine tunnels hit him, while vendors' cries rose and fell from the stalls on either side.
He made his way deeper inside with practiced ease, first visiting his usual Demon Crystal stall, then circling around to inspect the newly opened shops and quietly take their measure.
Just as he had expected, the new shops were all fronts connected to the Dark Guild's supply lines. On the surface, they sold ordinary herbs and ore. In secret, they were transferring prohibited inscription materials.
The volume of goods was small, and they moved discreetly. Presumably, they had switched to new channels after Nie Li cut off several of their previous routes.
Shen Fei did not stir the grass and startle the snake. He simply committed the shops' locations and their managers' faces to memory, bought some ordinary cultivation herbs, and left.
There was no hurry to use this information. His main focus remained cultivation. His foundation at gold rank 1-star had only just stabilized, and with the aid of Soul-Gathering Pills, breaking through to gold rank 2-star was only a matter of time.
As for these little maneuvers by the Dark Guild, he would keep them in mind for now and settle all the accounts once the time was right.
By the time he left the Black Market, dusk had fallen.
Shen Fei retraced his route and passed the alley where he had met Su Ming that morning. It was empty. Someone had swept away the brown rice scattered on the ground, leaving no sign of the earlier confrontation.
He did not stop, walking straight past.
Everyone had a path of their own to walk. The pill he had casually tossed out and those few words were like a pebble thrown into water. How large a ripple they could raise depended entirely on Su Ming.
When he returned to the Sacred Family estate, the lamps had just been lit. The steward was standing in the front hall. Seeing him return, he approached and said that the master had been looking for him and had asked where he had gone.
Shen Fei said he had gone to the Black Market to buy some herbs, then handed over the packets for the steward to put into storage. The steward asked no further questions and took them away to make the arrangements.
Shen Fei did not go to the study to see Shen Hong, instead returning directly to his own courtyard. He shut the door, leaving the room quiet. Walking to the table, he poured himself a cup of cold water and drank it slowly.
Shen Fei set down the cup and sat on the bed. He took the Soul-Gathering Pills from inside his clothes, tipped one out, and swallowed it. Then he settled into a cross-legged position and began circulating the Dark Prison Reincarnation Art.
Darkness-attribute spiritual energy flowed slowly through his meridians. The pill's medicinal power dissolved and merged into his soul force. The spiritual power in his dantian gradually grew denser, steadily advancing toward the threshold of gold rank 2-star.
He did not have much time. The Demon Beast Tide drew ever closer, the Dark Guild stirred restlessly in the shadows, and the allegiances of Shen Hong and the Sacred Family remained unresolved. He had to grow stronger faster-fast enough to support everything he wanted to do.
As for Su Ming.
With his eyes closed, Shen Fei recalled the young man's eyes, filled with hatred yet astonishingly bright.
I hope he'll have truly grown by the next time I see him.
After all, Glory City's future had never rested on any one person's shoulders. To shatter the injustices of this world and defend this city, more people like Su Ming needed to wake up and step forward.
The night was still long. The road of cultivation was still long. Everything had only just begun.
Before you continue