“I have no interest in doing that,” Shao shot back at Shen Jian. “Why would I want to subjugate the people that I’ve lived with for my whole life? That would make me like every other tyrannical cultivator on this island.”

“It’s not subjugation. Small mortal villages like Bluecrest can only survive one of two ways. They can either hide in the middle of nowhere and hope that no one notices them, or they can live under the protection of powerful cultivators.”

“I’m not going to do it,” Shao said obstinately, eliciting a shrug from Shen Jian.

“Whatever you say,” Shen Jian responded before starting to walk back toward the village. “If you want to get stronger, you’ll have to work on your stamina. What you do with that information is up to you.” Once again, the tone of Shen Jian’s voice betrayed his true thoughts. The green-clad JinDan was absolutely certain that Shao would do everything he was told.

The two men started walking back to the village. As they walked, Shen Jian said, “I’ll be in Bluecrest for five more days. When I leave, you’ll come with me to Silver Pine Village. From there, we’ll split up. You’ll head south to Shigong Temple, and I’ll continue west to the next village of mortals.”

“I have not agreed to that!” Shao retorted loudly. “All I agreed to do was listen to you talk. I never agreed to become your student.”

“Oh, I remember,” Shen Jian said with an easy smile. “You still have five days to change your mind.”

Shao intended to respond with another sharp retort, but he held his tongue. It didn’t matter what he said. He knew that he would not convince Shen Jian. Instead, he just sighed and continued walking back to Bluecrest.

Before long, Shao was back on the dirt roads of his village, and Shen Jian was back in the Patriarch’s home. Once Shen Jian was gone, the truth of Shao’s situation hit him like a truck. He was a cultivator, a powerful one. Those monsters who murdered with impunity and bent the world to their will counted him among their ranks.

Out of pure spite, a large part of Shao wanted to ignore his nature and deny the path of cultivation completely. Yet there was one thing Shen Jian said that caught Shao’s attention. The only thing cultivators respected was strength, and, if Shen Jian could be believed, Shao had the potential to rise above them all. He could become strong enough to stick it to those bastards.

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Shao thought back to the life he was forced to live due to the selfishness of a single cultivator. His parents had died so early in his life that he couldn’t remember their faces. He had been forced to work for most of his childhood, and he had no choice but to drop out of school at a very young age.

With this power, Shao could find the man who subjected him to such suffering and kill him. He could protect the mortals of Haishan and gain enough power to assure that no one would take anything from him again.

Deep in thought, Shao opened the door to his home and immediately saw that the house was packed with people. Four villagers were crammed in the Lin family living room: Granny Daiyu, Gongsun Bolin, Chu Peijing, and Chu Haoyu. His iron staff had been placed on the ground next to the table that Lin Daiyu and he used to eat, and the people sitting next to the heavy iron bar had to contort their bodies to avoid discomfort.

The four people present in the house all stood up in relieved surprise when they saw Shao enter. The young man was confused by their reactions until he heard them speak.

“He’s alive!” Someone in the house shouted these words out, causing Shao’s confusion to strengthen. As Shao closed the door behind him, several of the villagers present moved toward him and touched him in some way. Gongsun Bolin slapped him on the shoulder in an attempt to reassure him, and the Chu twins hugged him. These three people made contact with Shao at the same time, pushing him back with such force that Shao was convinced a non-cultivator would be knocked over.

As Shao adjusted his stance to prevent himself from falling, he noticed that tears were rolling down Chu Peijing’s cheeks. Trying to get a grasp on the confusion, Shao asked, “What are you guys talking about? Of course I’m okay.”

Of the four people in the house, Lin Daiyu was the calmest among them. More than half a century of life as a mortal in a world that did not care about her had numbed her to the suffering of life. She said, “Everyone in the village saw the cultivator carry your bleeding, unconscious body out into the forest. Patriarch Guanyu told us that you and the cultivator went up to the second floor together. When he went back up to the second floor, one of his doors was destroyed, and there was blood on the ground.”

Gongsun Bolin cut in, saying, “And the lifting bar you bought yesterday was found nearby.”

It didn’t strike Shao until then that, to all outside observers, it looked like Shen Jian killed him.

Trying to hold back her tears, Chu Peijing said, “Haoyu and I ran into the cultivator while he was carrying you. I asked him what he was doing. He looked at me for half a second, and then he completely ignored me. It was like I was a bug to him.”

Shao reassuringly grabbed Chu Peijing around the shoulders and said, “That bastard. There’s no need to worry. We just had a disagreement.”

Shao couldn’t imagine why he would possibly want to go with Shen Jian to Shigong Temple. The people of Bluecrest Village actually cared about him, and Shigong Temple was filled with people like Shen Jian. Shao would be perfectly happy training his cultivation here in Bluecrest.