Not long after, Sparrow sat warming his hands above the flames of a fire while Brother Han stirred a small curry.

Brother Han took some rice from the pot that had been boiling away, spread the delicious brown curry over top of it, and passed it to Sparrow.

‘Let me know what you think.’

When Sparrow tried it, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was the best thing he’d had in a long time, almost as good as his grandma’s cooking, but with something different about it.

‘I don’t eat meat,’ Brother Han explained, ‘I don’t see why we should kill another living creature when we have so many abundant leaves and trees and roots and mushrooms growing in the wild. Growing freely.’

Sparrow laughed out loud, nearly spilling a mouthful of the curry on the cave floor, ‘Says the guy who’s about to go and kill a demon king.’

A smile widened on Brother Han’s face. ‘You’re a smart one. I’ll give you that. But I don’t want to kill the Demon King. I just want to rescue Sherry from his side. She’s being held captive there, along with many other beautiful women, to attract stupid cultivators like myself who fall in love easily.’

Brother Han held a hand over the flame and the fire twisted to form the shape of crowned demon – small glowing eyes pierced into Sparrow’s soul as Brother Han continued talking.

‘He defeats us, takes our Qi, our spiritual essence, and uses it to make himself stronger.’

Sparrow scratched his head. ‘So… why are you falling for it if it’s an obvious trap?’

The image of the demon vanished from the fire.

‘Love.’

Brother Han gave a small, sad smile, then burst into laughter as Sparrow started to make throwing up noises.

‘Come on,’ Brother Han laughed, throwing a radish at Sparrow, ‘Love is not so bad.’

Sparrow caught the radish, ‘An adventurer like me has no time for love. I’m trying to learn as much about the world as I can so that I can go home and make my grandma proud.’

Brother Han nodded sagely. ‘That sounds like a type of love to me.’

He stirred the embers of the fire, ‘You have any plans for where to go next?’

Sparrow shook his head, ‘No, wherever the road takes me.’

Brother Han nodded, ‘Well, I respect you for that. Before this evening I never believed one so young could possess so much wisdom.’

Brother Han scratched the side of his head, ‘Hey Sparrow. Perhaps you’d like to stay here for just a little bit.’ When Sparrow began to speak Brother Han cut him off, ‘I’m not saying forever. I would never want to hold you back from your journey. But I really think you could learn a thing or two from me, we can cultivate together and grow your Qi. I think it would be good for the both of us to have a friend at this time.’

Sparrow rubbed the side of his face, despite how crazy Brother Han was he kind of liked him. He wasn’t too sure about sitting in the rain and doing nothing, or ‘cultivation’ as Brother Han had called it. But, with meals as good as this, at least his stomach would be happy.

Sparrow nodded, gave a smile to Brother Han, ‘I won’t stay long. But I’ll at least stay for tomorrow.’

Brother Han nodded, a big smile on his face, ‘It’s been a long while since I saw another human face or made conversation. Nothing is permanent young Sparrow. But still, I cherish moments like these for all they’re worth.’

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

****

The next day, standing in freezing cold water up to his neck while small blocks of ice sailed past him, Sparrow decided that Brother Han was crazy.

Brother Han stood a few feet in front of Sparrow, completely submerged in the water. He hadn’t come up for a breath in 10 minutes, but Sparrow wasn’t too worried about Brother Han. He was more focused on the headache that was splitting through his head, and on his body which had begun to shiver so much, he wondered if he was possessed.

Master Lee’s voice appeared in his head. Control your breathing in, out, peaks and valleys. Even as he shivered his ass off, Sparrow tried to slow his breathing.

His shivering stopped, his arms were even beginning to feel warm. Sparrow closed his eyes and listened to the sound of water trickling along beside him and the sound of his breath as it exited and entered his body.

At some point, he opened his eyes to find Brother Han gone. The shock of not seeing Brother Han in front of him caused the cold to bleed back into Sparrow’s body.

Suddenly he was shivering like crazy. He spun around and ran and tripped back to the shore, where he found Brother Han, sitting on a rock laughing.

‘That was amazing Sparrow.’ Brother Han said, ‘I have never met a seven-year-old who has mastered breathing that fast.’

Sparrow, on the other hand, wasn’t quite so happy.

‘I think I’ve just about frozen one of my balls off.’ he said as he shivered, ‘D-D-Do you have a sp-spare blanket?’

Brother Han shook his head, ‘I’ve got something better. Hold your arms out.’

Sparrow raised his shaking arms and Brother Han crouched, spread his hands out like windmills and then brought them together in a praying position. Fire sprang up the sides of Sparrow’s arms along his chest and coated his whole body.

Yet the fire didn’t burn, it warmed. Brother Han remained in the same stance until Sparrow’s whole body had warmed inside then Brother Han moved his hands apart, and the fire disappeared.

Sparrow’s jaw dropped, ‘What the hell, man? Why are you getting me to stand in freezing water when I could be making fire just by pushing my hands together?’

Brother Han laughed and crouched to meet Sparrow’s eyes, ‘One day Sparrow. One day. But for the moment you have a lot of cultivating ahead of you.’

****

Despite only promising to stay an extra day, Sparrow ended up spending many months standing in freezing cold water with Brother Han. Over that time, he began to learn many essential skills of a cultivator including patience, resilience, mental and physical strength, and a little bit of wisdom.

That was the boring part.

Sparrow could heal, small injuries in an instant, just by directing his Qi to any scratches or bruises he had.

He could make small balls of flame appear in his hand by directing his Qi there.

Each day Brother Han would fill his wok with cold water from the mountain river and Sparrow would direct his Qi until it was boiling.

At first, this practice left Sparrow with nosebleeds, headaches, and only slightly warm water. But after months of training Sparrow was able to boil water in only a matter of minutes.

Brother Hans’ training was leaps and bounds ahead of Sparrow’s. Brother Han would create walls or spirit beasts, made entirely out of fire. With the single punch, he could crack boulders. Brother Han could levitate, and even turn his right arm invisible.

One day in the spring after months and months of training Brother Han announced it was time for him to face the Demon King.

‘But Brother Han,’ Sparrow said, ‘Wasn’t your goal to be able to disappear fully before you face the Demon King?’

Brother Han nodded with a shrug.

‘What if he sees you?!’ Sparrow said.

Brother Han gave a small smile, ‘Sparrow. I may be able to do many things as a cultivator. But even I have my flaws.’

Brother Han picked up a rock and levitated it between them, ‘I lack patience. I can’t wait any longer. I am worried that Sherry will be will no longer be alive by the time I get there.

Sparrow nodded. Over the many months, there hadn’t been a day where Brother Han didn’t talk about Sherry.

Missing her and wanting her to be safe, had allowed the cultivator to focus his energy much more intensely and learn so much faster, but it also tested his patience.

Brother Han waved his hands and his wok and collection of things floated slowly into his pack frame.

‘Brother Sparrow,’ Han said, laying a hand on his shoulder. ‘It has been very good, us being together. But I think today, here, now, as we are, we must part.’

Sparrow shook his head, ‘I knew you’d say that. But I’m a little bit worried about you, brother. I don’t like the idea of you going into the demon realm to fight alone. I’m coming with you.’

Brother Han chuckled and touched the smaller boy’s chin.

‘How old are you? Eight? You look bigger than eight.’

Brother Han shook his head, ‘You’ve done so well young Sparrow. But if you go into the demon realm, you’re probably not going to come back. You will die there Sparrow.’

‘Well, at least then I’ll know what death feels like,’ Sparrow laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

‘Come on. We’re wasting time, and I won’t take no for an answer. We’re going in together. We’re fighting together, and we’re going to rescue Sherry.’

Brother Han took a slow breath and then a smile played across his lips.

‘I know I call you brother Sparrow. But today, I think I realized that you truly are my family.’

He clamped a hand on Sparrow’s shoulder, ‘I’ll make the portal. Let’s go.’