As long as you did something you enjoyed, you would not feel quite so miserable.
"Mingyuan, look over there."
Following the direction Tang Wulin pointed, Jiang Mingyuan saw several people gathered in an alley by the street. They looked like thugs, hardly decent people.
They had cornered a little silver-haired beggar in the alley.
The Silver Dragon King?
The name immediately sprang into Jiang Mingyuan's mind.
"Heh heh heh! Little girl, why are you here all alone? Want us big brothers to take you somewhere fun?"
The little beggar had been forced into the alley, with nowhere left to retreat. She slumped helplessly on the ground, her eyes filled with terror as she shook her head frantically.
"No!"
"Heh heh heh! That's not up to you. Get her! Grab her. She'll fetch a good price on the black market." The man who looked like the gang's leader ordered his lackeys forward.
Suddenly, a black shadow streaked through the air. The gang leader had barely raised his head when he saw the sole of a shoe coming straight for his face.
Smack! The gang leader's body made intimate contact with the ground. Jiang Mingyuan planted one foot on his head and set Tang Wulin down from his arms.
"What are you doing?!"
The oldest of these thugs looked to be only in his twenties, while the younger ones were probably fifteen or sixteen. Of all the things they could have done, they had chosen human trafficking.
Aside from maniacs who killed for pleasure, there was no one Jiang Mingyuan despised more than human traffickers.
Jiang Mingyuan immediately switched to his phoenix form, and an eerie crimson blaze erupted from his body.
The intense heat seared the gang leader's skin, and a wretched howl instantly tore from his mouth.
The other thugs collapsed to the ground in terror at the sight. They were merely ordinary people with no soul power, and even their martial souls were of the lowest grade, practically useless.
"We're sorry! We're sorry! We were wrong! Please spare our lives!" The thugs immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy, but Jiang Mingyuan had no intention of letting them off.
He had happened upon them today, but what about all the times before, when he had not been there? How many children had they trafficked then?
Jiang Mingyuan was no saint, nor did he have the power to stop every crime. But with these villains right before his eyes, there was no reason to hold back.
The scorched aroma of roasting meat rose from the gang leader, who had long since passed out from the excruciating pain. Jiang Mingyuan stepped forward and kicked the thug who had moved first square in the chest, sending him flying into the wall with a brutal crash and coughing up blood.
He gave each of the remaining thugs a savage blow as well.
Jiang Mingyuan walked up to the little beggar and held out his hand to help her up. But the flames had scorched her skin, and the pain made her afraid to touch him.
"Ah, I forgot. My fire doesn't distinguish friend from foe." Jiang Mingyuan immediately released his Martial Soul Possession and held out his hand again. This time, she cautiously took it and slowly stood up.
"Thank you."
By then, Tang Wulin had bound all the thugs with blue silver grass.
Jiang Mingyuan took out his Communication Soul Tool and called the police.
Their response was hardly swift. It took more than ten minutes for a police car to finally arrive. Two officers stepped out and asked what had happened.
"Officers, these people were trying to abduct this little girl and sell her." Jiang Mingyuan pointed at the thugs tied together.
"All right, young man. Thank you for stepping up to help. We'll arrest them, and the law will punish them as severely as possible."
After some effort, the two officers stuffed all the thugs into the back seat, without caring how they were crammed in. Some had begun to regain consciousness, and the moment their scorched, mangled skin brushed against anything, they started shrieking.
The officers paid that no mind. Out came their batons-six strikes in a second-and the thugs were sent straight back to dreamland.
Wherever Jiang Mingyuan went, the little beggar stayed close beside him, unwilling to stray even a single step. It was as though something about him held an irresistible attraction for her.
"What's your name?" Jiang Mingyuan already had a fairly good guess, but he wanted to confirm it.
The little beggar said timidly, "My name is Na'er."
Sure enough, the great hand of fate had gone to work. The mighty Silver Dragon King had taken human form, only to lose her memories and have her power sealed away.
Come to think of it, if I killed her now, would she drop a god-level Soul Ring and Soul Bone? For some reason, the thought surfaced in Jiang Mingyuan's mind, startling even him. He hurriedly shook his head, driving those jumbled thoughts out of his mind.
"My name is Jiang Mingyuan, and this is Tang Wulin. Why are you here alone? Do you have anywhere to go?"
Na'er shook her head. She did not know where her home was, nor why she had appeared here. Aside from knowing that her name was Na'er, she knew nothing at all.
Na'er shook her head, sounding deeply dejected. "I can't remember anything. I don't know anything. I have nowhere to go."
"She's so pitiful." Even though Tang Wulin had awakened the useless martial soul, blue silver grass, and had only rank-three innate soul power, he at least had a warm home, a father and mother who loved him, and a good friend.
"How about this? You can stay at my house for now, until you remember or your family finds you. My house is pretty big." Jiang Mingyuan rubbed Na'er's head, trying his best to comfort her.
Jiang Mingyuan actually knew where Na'er's home was: the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest. It was just that the Spirit Pagoda had already cordoned off the area, making it nearly impossible for an ordinary person to enter.
"Is that really all right?" Na'er looked up, blinking her purple eyes adorably.
"Of course."
With Na'er joining them, Jiang Mingyuan did not have enough soul power to carry both of them through the air, so the three simply walked together. Along the way, they came across a cart selling candied hawthorn skewers. Seeing Na'er and Tang Wulin repeatedly glance at the glistening treats, Jiang Mingyuan bought three without another word, one for each of them.
Taking a walk like this once in a while really was not bad.
Tang Wulin's home was closer to Red Mountain Academy, so Jiang Mingyuan took him home first. After saying goodbye to Tang Wulin, the other two strolled toward Jiang Mingyuan's house, facing the setting sun.
"Wow! What a pretty little flower!" Na'er ran excitedly onto the grass beside the road and picked a little wildflower.
She brought it over to Jiang Mingyuan. It was a small flower with purple and yellow coloring. Well, it was not exactly ugly, but somehow it looked a little odd.
As they walked and chatted, the two gradually grew more familiar with each other. Na'er's true nature began to show as well. She was lively.
Perhaps this was the true Silver Dragon King.
According to the most widely circulated version of the story, the Five Great God Kings had joined forces to split the Dragon God into gold and silver halves. The Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King had each inherited a portion of the Dragon God's thoughts, knowledge, and legacy.
Those things were not theirs to begin with. They were like two children whose minds had been inexplicably stuffed with incomplete knowledge and legacies. Then the two unfortunate children had each ended up imprisoned.
Their subconscious minds, along with the plight of the beasts, had led them to a conclusion: the Divine Realm was the enemy.
The Silver Dragon King had no life experiences of her own, no experience of living at all, before the soul beasts chose her as their leader to raise the banner of resistance against the Divine Realm.