*thud*

"That's right, trash. Someone like you is dog shit in my eyes."

As Le Xiao fell on the ground, these were the words he heard. They could not pierce his iron heart because he was used to the many insults aimed at him. All he could was attempt to get up as the boy who hit him walked away.

"Brother, why did you have to fight with him?"

While he was looking up at the blue sky, someone blocked his view. This person looked at him with a worried expression. The person was Le Xiao's sister Le Qing.

Le Xiao was silent and did not respond to his sister. He did not even have the energy to respond since he was beaten up extremely. After all, there was no way he could take on a noble who had started practicing martial arts.

Then, Le Xiao attempted to get up, but he failed and fell down again. After this, his sister helped him up and they began walking home.

"Le Qing, I'm sorry I couldn't beat that bastard."

Le Xiao was infuriated with himself. The noble boy who had beaten up was called Wang Che. He had taken a fancy to his sister, Le Qing, and was trying to flirt with her. When Le Xiao attempted to stop him, he got beaten up by Wang Che.

"Brother, I didn't mind what he said. Still, you should not have fought back. Next time, just ignore him."

Le Xiao felt like banging his head against a wall after his sister said this. He knew that there was no way he could beat a martial practitioner, but he had to stop Wang Che.

However, Le Xiao knew that without strength, a person was trash in this world of martial arts. Someone like Le Xiao who had horrible talent in martial arts could become strong in this world. To make the situation worse, Le Xiao was extremely poor and struggled to feed him and his sister. They had no parents to support them, so he could not waste time on becoming a martial artist. However, wealth allows one to succeed because it allows one access to martial art techniques and elixirs. Without it, becoming strong would require great talent. So, in the eyes of the world, Le Xiao was worse than trash.

"Le Qing, forgive your brother for not being able to protect you."

Le Qing did not respond. She knew how much her brother struggled everyday for her. She loved him more than anything. Rather than herself, she cursed the heavens for making her brother's life so horrible.

As the siblings went home, they stayed silent. Their suffering is something many adults would never face in life, but they were only children. They were children who survived this struggle every single day.

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"Brother, I'm heading out, alright. Don't push yourself, today."

As Le Qing left the little shack the siblings lived in, Le Xiao was struggling to get up. He was covered in bandages, but he still needed to earn money. For the siblings, everyday was a struggle. Their parents had died when Le Xiao was only 7 and Le Qing was 4. Ever since then, they had done many odd jobs, so they could survive. Fortunately, most of the people in Fenlai Town adored the siblings and helped them when they needed to. However, Le Xiao's job became harder as Le Qing grew up because she became a real beauty. All the nobles were attracted to the black-haired beauty with a face that could be considered "cute". Le Xiao was already beaten up because of his low status, but the beatings increased when this occurred

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"Today, I have to head to the mountains to collect herbs. Hopefully, I don't run into monsters because I won't be able to escape."

Le Xiao was a very resourceful boy because he knew the mountains like his own home. Thanks to this, he could easily track down many herbs. His tough body made it seem as if he was a martial artist, but he could not even use the herbs to help his training because of his horrible talent.

After getting ready, Le Xiao began to head to the mountains to collect some herbs.

............................................................................................................................

"That should be the last one."

After a few hours, Le Xiao had managed to collect the herbs. He didn't run into any monsters because he had stayed out of the danger zones in the mountains, but he was still careful. It had not taken him that long to find the herbs, but he collected way more than he needed.

"I guess I should probably head home now."

As Le Xiao was heading home, he saw a small hot spring in the mountains.

"Eh, was this spring always there?"

He was very surprised because he knew the mountains like his home. According to his memory, there was never a hot spring here. Still, it was there and Le Xiao got an idea.

"Maybe I should go in the hot spring for a while. I should tell Le Qing about it later."

Since pleasure was uncommon for the siblings, Le Xiao took of his clothes and jumped into the hot spring. The hot spring made Le Xiao feel happy in a long time.

"It's unfair how only the rich get to enjoy this sort of pleasure. Wait, maybe I can make this spring bigger."

Le Xiao then began to swim in the hot spring. He wanted to know if this spring could become bigger in any way, so he could start a business. That could solve the siblings's problems and give them wealth for the first time. With a optimistic view, Le Xiao swam in the pool until he saw something shine in the spring.

He swam up to the source of the shine until he found something under a rock. When he took it, he saw that it was a black pearl with a golden glow inside it. Then, he swam up, so that he could examine it.

"What is this thing? It seems to be worth a lot."

The pearl seemed to be rare because of the golden glow coming from it. Le Xiao's hopes raised at the idea of this pearl being worth a lot.

"Hm. I wonder if this is something for martial artists."

Martial artists were known to use rare objects, so Le Xiao was right in thinking this.

Suddenly, the pearl began to vibrate and it freed itself from Le Xiao's hand. It began to float which shocked Le Xiao.

"What the hell is this thing?"

Le Xiao began to retreat because he feared that the pearl was dangerous. His suspicion were right when the golden glow inside the pearl freed itself and shot at Le Xiao at an extremely high speed. He could not dodge the golden glow at all.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

That was the last thing Le Xiao said as the glow contacted his body.