Because the Heavens' Will did not continue to pursue, Yueshi and the others retreated successfully to the town. They were hurt and injured, however, what pained them the most was the wounds to their pride.

Today’s humiliation would forever be remembered by the group, and it could either become a propelling force or break them.

When they returned to town, Xuehua was waiting by the entrance, immediately running toward them. Her face was full of worry and concern, and when she saw Yueshi being carried her eyes moistened.

Taking him, she immediately waltzed to find Xiao Yao and get a few pills.

No one blamed her, though. After all, they could imagine how she was feeling.

Exchanging glances, they decided to follow on her steps and meet Xiao Yao too, since they all needed a few healing pills right now.

On the way, none of them spoke up. They were all lost in their thoughts and ruminating about today’s events.

This experience was something new to them, and what sort of lesson they would take out of it was for them to decide.

However, after seeing that majestic spear strike Yueshi unleashed and hearing his words, most of them seemed hell-bent on cultivating even harder – to become stronger and to pay today's debt back.

As they walked across the unpaved roads, a lot of people looked at them, wondering what had happened. A few of them smirked, while others with a bit more information revealed varying expressions – some gloating and others sighing in remorse.

However, the group did not care.

Not long after that, they arrived at where Xiao Yao was. The sick-looking boy was already aware of what had happened, having been informed by Xuehua and the others.

To one side, they could see Xuehua feeding Yueshi a few pills.

"Take it." Saying so, Xiao Yao threw each of them a bag. By feel alone, they could sense there were a few dozen pills stoned in each bag. "The red ones are pain killers, the green ones are healing pills, the white ones are bone mending pills, and the dark-red ones are blood pills…" Immediately after, he explained the use of each of them.

The first two did not need an explanation, as they were fairly common.

The bone mending pills helped to heal broken bones and restore them to their previous condition, making the process faster and resulting in little to no problems remaining behind.

The blood pills helped with blood loss, stimulating the production of blood and its flow, also helping in recovery.

Everyone was a bit surprised but chose to not comment on it. Those pills' values were immense, even for Xiao Yao, so they engraved his actions in their hearts, swearing to repay him in the future.

Then, they all sat down, placing a few pills in their mouths and gulping them down.

"Are you guys really going to rest at my working place?" Suddenly he spoke aloud. He was a bit awkward at it, but everyone understood he was trying to change the dreary mood.

"Yup. Maybe from looking at my beauty, you will suddenly reach heavenly enlightenment." Yuan Yue joked back with flair.

The others smiled at their exchange, feeling their hearts calm down a bit. Even Xuehua, to the side, smiled slightly, despite her eyes still being moist.

“How can someone be so shameless?” From where he was sitting, Xiao Yao muttered, a wondering expression on his face.

Hearing his doubtful words, and feeling the wonder in his tone, Baiyun laughed hard, before wincing in pain. Yuyi also burst into giggles and even Ling Tian Tian facepalmed, leaving Yuan Yue red-faced in embarrassment.

“Bah, I am done with you all.” Turning her face to the side, Yuan Yue closed her eyes.

If Yueshi was awoken he certainly would make fun of her, in revenge for all the times she had teased him in the past. However, right now, he was deep into sleep, and chances were that he'd take some time to awake.

Yet, despite being asleep, Yueshi was not exactly unconscious. He was in a strange state, being able to think and wonder about a lot of things.

He thought about his life on Earth, where he and his mother lived a frugal life. The life where, after being expelled from their own home by their family members, they lived going from one side to another and, at times, sleeping on the cold streets.

He also thought about the few days after he arrived in this world - when Xuehua was grabbed by the wrist, which almost led to her death.

He remembered the words that the shadow guard spoke to him – telling him that only the strong had the right to protect the things and people they held dear.

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Past his flickering mind also fashed the face of those people when they came to their house, planning to break him and his sister.

He also remembered the situation at the dojo, the gloating faces of their opponents seeing the Flying Snow Dojo’s disciples being hurt and wounded, incapable of fighting in the examination.

'Why?' He wondered.

Why was the world so unfair?

Couldn’t people be given the same amount of talent and resources? Why did he and his mother have to live without any spare money to spend? Why did others stand above and looked at those below with disdain, treating them as ants they could step on?

It was all because of strength.

It was all because he was weak.

Yueshi had been aware for a while that in whatever world he was in, power was the most important thing.

Financial power or combat power… he lacked both, in both worlds. He was truly too weak, too pitiful and small. And today events had made him remember that once again.

Something inside of his started to change slowly, but surely.

Today events had remembered him he was still just starting, that he should not be complacent, and that even if he had talent, he was just a weakling right now - he had to get even more powerful.

'I will become stronger!' In the darkness, he swore to himself. 'I will make them pay back everything they owe me!' Both the Heavens' Will and the people from Earth… they all had threatened him and what he held dear, so they needed to pay.

With such thoughts, Yueshi finally awoke from his unconscious state - with a changed heart and mind.

When he opened his eyes, Yueshi saw a wooden ceiling. He immediately tried to get up, only to feel something weighing against his chest.

Looking at it, he noticed that Xuehua was sitting by the bedside, and had fallen asleep with her arms and head above his chest.

Her face was frowning and she seemed to be having troubled dreams, and, somehow, he knew she should be dreaming about him - her brother.

Seeing her pale face, and the tear streaks that marked her smooth skin, Yueshi felt that intense desire of power in his chest burning ever fiercer.

Things had ended fairly well today, maybe because the others were also disciples from the sect and the sect prohibited killing. However, what if they had been ambushed by bandits? What if the eight of them could not hold the other party back?

What would have happened to those that retreated first?

What would have happened to those that stayed to fight?

Above all…

What would have happened to Xuehua if she was caught?

Yueshi did not want to think about it, because he found himself afraid of even wondering.

It hadn't been a month since they first met, yet, there was something in her that made him care and worry about her wellbeing to a heart wrenching degree.

It was as if they were fated to meet and as if he was fated to love her.

"I am sorry", he spoke softly looking at her face. "I promise you will never have to go through something like this again." He caressed her hair, sighing.

Then, gently, he lifted her head and climbed out of the bed. Then, slowly and with care, he lifted her from the chair and laid her on the body. After today's events, she was just as tired, so she showed no sign of waking up.

After doing that, Yueshi stared out of the window, before promptly leaving.

If he had time to stay sleeping and resting, then he would use it to train. It was only like this that he would be able to protect her from any harm, that he would be able to protect his friends and help his mother.

From the position of the moon, Yueshi judged he should have slept for twenty or so hours. It was not even noon when they were ambushed, and now the sun had long set.

Jumping out of the house he climbed the roof and sat above it, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.

The qi in the world soon started to be attracted to him at a visible speed and he continued to cycle it around. The strand of blue qi was now as thick as an arm, while the red one was the same size as before.

He judged he should be almost reaching the middle-phase. It seemed fast for someone that had reached the third stage not even a month ago. However, his qi was already ticker than the average early phase cultivators when he reached it, so it was not that strange.

Like that, he continued to cultivate, the circling speed of the qi inside his body increasing without even him noticing. And it was only when he heard a small grunt coming from the room that he stopped and went back inside.

Xuehua had just opened her eyes and, seeing him standing on his feet right in front of her, her eyes glistered with tears for a moment.

She had been extremely afraid of losing him, to the point she didn't know if she could continue living if that happened.

Some people would frown at the amount of affection between the brother and sister pair, finding it strange. Xuehua, however, saw no problem in it. Instead, she was thankful he was alive and well, her heart beating madly with joy.

Suddenly, however, her eyes changed.

Seeing that, Yueshi shuddered. And at that moment he knew - a scolding was coming his way.

--- - -

When the group met again, Yueshi was surprised to find they were mostly well.

After knowing that Xiao Yao had given them pills that were worth thousands of gold coins, he made a mental note to thank him later, since he was sleeping after staying up late concocting pills and preparing poisons.

They were not in their best state, though. But they were indeed better than he’d expected by leagues.

The worst of the bunch was him - whose body had been overworked by his last strike - and Baiyun whose arm would take one to two days to heal.

Thankfully, Xiao Yao had some nice pills, or else the chances were that Baiyun’s arm would not be the same after that wound.

"From now on, we will not be leaving the city until the beast horde strikes." Yueshi announced in a serious tone.

Just as he spoke everyone looked at him with doubt and confusion, however, no one spoke. After yesterday’s battle Yueshi’s position as the leader had been cemented.

Even if the other geniuses had not fully yielded, they fully respected him as a leader now.

“However, I am not prohibiting you from going to the forest.” His next words cleared a few of his doubts. “Moving as a group will attract too much attention, and bring misfortune. Right now, we lack the power to confront our enemies.”

The others nodded slowly, understanding his message.

There was no problem in going to the forest to fight, hunt, or just train. However, they had to avoid the Heavens Will Association, at least for now.

Even if they did not want to admit it, they had to. Reality was harsher than dreams, and, even if they were geniuses, the fact was that they could not win right now.