"Master!" Liuyue's eyes widened at the number of items in Ren's arms as well as the hired hands behind him carrying cages full of little frightened beasts and wrapped boxes. "Master, what is all this? We're you out the whole night? How could you leave without taking me with you? What if something happened to you?" She cried rushing down the stairs accompanied by her maid.

She quickly began unloading the weight from Ren's arms and handing it to the maid and other servants. "Put it all in the second carriage. Those as well." She pointed at the other boxes.

When she got to the cages, Liuyue bent to study them and they stared back with hostility and fear. "You never agreed to raise beasts. Why have you bought so many of them, Master?"

"They looked pathetic. Some seemed dead, like this one." He pointed at his hair where the blue snake had wrapped its body around his silver ponytail cuff.

Sensing the hidden aura emanating from the little sleeping snake, Liuyue almost cowered from fear. "Ma-ma-master! Where di-did you b-b-buy that?" Her finger was shaking as she pointed at the blue snake.

"The market," Ren answered unwinding the snake from his hair cuff to let it curl on his palms. "The animals in this world are so different. I may not have been close to nature, but I'm sure there was no snake like this on Earth. By the way..."

He lifted his eyes from the snake to look at Liuyue and was shocked to see her unconscious on the floor with her maid fanning her.

"What's wrong with her?"

"That snake, young master."

"What about it?"

"It's a divine beast."

"What's special about divine beasts anyway?"

"That...um... They're from the godly realm. Everything about them is a mystery. Keeping it will only bring you disaster."

"Oh?"

He brought it closer to his eyes and tried to forcefully open its eye. But it only felt as if he was trying to move a thousand-year-old boulder with a mere finger. "Is that why I can't feel its cultivation level? Or is it because it doesn't have one? Interesting."

Liuyue opened her eyes seeming confused. The second she saw the snake again, her head fell back on her maid's lap, completely unconscious.

"This girl. Take her back to her room."

The maid nodded and gently moved forward to pull Liuyue on her back. A slight grunt and she was up on her feet with her young lady on her back.

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Has anyone come in here looking for me?"

The maid shook her head. "We haven't been informed. I'll ask the owner if-"

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"No need. Take her up. We'll leave when she wakes."

###########

Lying beside the plant was the blue snake.

Ren placed his chin on the back of his hands and stared intently at the small creature, wondering how it could frighten Liuyue so much yet he couldn't feel a thing. He had at least sensed the negative aura from the demonic willow.

Could it be that he was too weak to feel anything?

He rubbed its head carefully before picking it up and placing it in the pot where his souvenirs from the mountain were held...including Han's core.

As he lazed at the diner, waiting for Liuyue to finish getting ready for departure upstairs, a young man walked in. His face was covered in bruises, and he had a black eye from a visible punch.

His clothes were bloody and torn up, and his brown hair was uneven and disheveled as if someone had forcefully cut it.

He dragged himself to the reception and said something to the man behind it. The worker, in turn, glanced over at Ren before muttering something to the young man.

He nodded and began his exhausting walk to come closer to Ren.

"It's you, right? You asked me to come here."

Ren gazed up at him lazily. When he showed no interest, the young man rolled up his left sleeve. "You remember this?" He almost yelled. "Why do I have to suffer because of this? And what does it have to do with you?" He demanded, enraged, even though his internal organs were in pure agony. "Why won-"

He coughed up a spurt of blood that fell on the table, brushing the tip of Han's leaves.

Ren picked up the cup of water from his right and offered the angry young man who seemed ready to shred him to pieces if he did not answer.

"What's your name? And who did this to you?"

"Master?" Liuyue's gentle voice came from behind the figure blocking Ren's sight. "Master, who is this? Is he troubling you?"

"Oh! You're ready."

Ren sat up straight.

"Answer me!" The young man roared and coughed up more blood.

"Liuyue?"

"Yes, Master," she answered diligently, rushing to stand beside the wounded brown-haired young male.

"Do you have something useful to treat him? He might be dying."

This was from his medical experience. But knowing that the body of a cultivator was different from that of an earthly human, he didn't bother trying to treat him himself.

An hour later, the young man, whose name was Liu Ming, awoke lying in an unfamiliar room, his abdomen, right leg, and face wrapped in clean bandages, and his internal pain diminished.

When his mind cleared, Liu Ming sat up, scolding himself for letting his pain drive him to a stupid decision. But in his moment of self-hatred and anger, the only person he could blame for his disaster was the white-haired young man who had shown up at his stand and caused a mess of everything.

He had almost not recognized him in daylight and the only feature he could clearly remember had been his long white hair.

Liu Ming's eyes swept the entire room, ending up fixed on the same person he believed was his doom seated cross-legged on a square zafu.

He looked graceful under the morning light illuminating all his features. The short strands of hair falling at either side of his face added to his good looks. He appeared too good for this world yet Liu Ming could feel his heart stirring. Almost as if he had a connection with Ren.

When he opened his eyes, Liu Ming quickly looked away.

"I see that the money I spent yesterday at least bought medicine strong enough to heal your liver. Are you in any pain?" Ren asked calmly, lifting his right knee and placing his elbows on it to sit inelegantly.

"I...I'll pay you back when I earn-"

"You didn't even have a single coin on you. How do you plan on paying back a thousand coins?"

Ren had spent all the gold bars Liuyue had given him for emergencies in a single night, but he wasn't regretting it. Each item he bought possessed a great amount of spiritual energy. Except the beasts. He only bought them to free them from the harsh market.

Even chickens were raised warmly before being slaughtered.

Liu Ming looked down at his hands, his fingers fidgeting. "That was your fault. Because of you, I didn't make any money last night and Uncle became furious."

"Oh? So he's responsible for your injuries?"

"No, and yes. My cousins did this to me. I was abandoned by my mother when she saw the mark of the curse on my body. My uncle's family took me in but as a slave."

"Do you want to get revenge?"

He looked over at Ren and saw his seriousness. "I'll get stronger and come back for-"

"I don't have time for future vengeance Liu Ming. They're waiting for you downstairs. Go and do whatever you want to them."

Ren stood up and stretched out a little. "And please hurry. We are already late on our departure because of you."

###############

Ren had learned a valuable lesson. Just like on Earth, with the right amount of money, people were willing to look the other way.

It reminded him of his resentment. Money had silenced his family not to seek justice for a dying man even though he had done nothing but help them selflessly.

The inn owner had closed the establishment to give them privacy to deal with the Liu family, playing deaf and blind for the sake of the money that had been tossed their way.

Kneeling in a row, the men and women of the Liu family, who were just ordinary mortals, knelt blindfolded and gagged.

Their fear was reflected in their faces and trembling legs as they fought to stay still lest they lose an arm or leg.

"Are you going to just stand there?" Ren questioned, annoyed, from where he sat: a wooden chair by the window.

For a whole minute, Liu Ming had just stood in front of his family with a sword in his hands and rage in his eyes, yet he hadn't said or done anything.

"Do what you want to whoever you want to."

"Mmhnnnh!" The oldest of the women muffled shedding tears under the blindfold as if pleading for mercy.