“Alright, let’s get this shit over with.” Hu Tao sighed.

  He scratched his chest as he stood in front of Jie, staring at him with a look of disappointment and regret. Hu Tao couldn’t help but smirking after seeing the look on her face. It only reminded him of the fact that when you’re truly desperate, you’ll do anything for help. Her only hope for her family or herself was him, a person she hated with all her guts. That was hilarious as hell to him.

“Follow me.” She turned around and got ready to move but Hu Tao’s words stopped her.

“Nah. Hop on and just point me in the direction.” Hu Tao took out his cloud from his storage ring and had it swipe him from under his feet.

“I didn’t know you had something as valuable as this...” Jie muttered, impressed at the sight of his flying treasure.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me. Now hop on and let’s get going before I change my mind.” He yawned.

  Jie carefully climbed onto the cloud and sat next to Hu Tao. Scared to put her full weight on it out of fear of falling straight through. Hu Tao would’ve felt like teasing her but he was tired as hell. He just woke up a little while ago after his morning training with the shadow. You’d think that would’ve woke him up but Jing’s milk bath thing knocked him out cold. By soaking himself in it after training or a fight, Jing said it would promote the recovery of physical, mental, and spiritual fatigue while at the same time, giving healthier, smoother, and more radiant skin. That wasn’t all it did either! Lastly, it also strengthened those who got inside of it injured.

  Multiple fights broke out over who got to use it at certain times. Wan Qing, Ying, and Jing were the most vicious when deciding. Jing, of course, would’ve went first if they decided on strength alone but that would’ve been too unfair. They regularly thought of different methods of combat to decide who would get to go inside the bath. Rock Paper Scissors, coin flipping, races, all types of stuff just to choose who could get in. Once Jing described what the Heavenly Milk Bath could do, no one wanted to give up their chance to use it immediately. And once you stripped and got inside that milky white liquid, you’d never want to leave for the next several hours.

“Do you know where Dragon City is?” Jie asked.

“Ah, yeah. I almost got my head chopped off there. Is that where the guys I gotta fight are?”

“Yes. My family was forced into marrying me off to one of our rivals’ heir as an act of submission to them. I ran away and joined the Golden Serpent Sect in hopes of hiding but they somehow found me and threatened to eliminate my family if I don’t return.”

“Next time I ask a simple question, just answer with a simple answer. All I needed was the yes.” Hu Tao yawned again while scratching his perfectly ripped abs.

  Jie inhaled with her nose and exhaled in an irritated manner. She knew he didn’t care about her or what she was going through but did he have to make it so obvious how much he didn’t care? Honestly, she would’ve preferred it if he lied to her and said he does care about the situation she was in and her family. Then she wouldn’t feel so terrible about asking him for help.

“So, you want me to kill your fiancé, huh? I don’t think I can kill the daddy though.” Hu Tao grinned.

“No. Killing him would be nice but that’s not what I need you to do. I need you to weaken their forces so that my family aren’t suppressed by their numbers anymore.”

“Fight as many as I can? Now this is starting to sound fun. If their head does come out though, just know that if your daddy or mommy ain’t there to deal with him for me, I'm out.” Hu Tao stated up front.

“I will speak to them when we arrive. They probably won’t believe me at first so, you might have to spar with my father.”

“How strong is he?”

“Strong...”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“If I accidentally kill your dad, you can’t get mad at me.” He told her beforehand.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that.” She smiled. “My father is pretty strong.”

  Soon, they arrived above Dragon City. Hu Tao lowered his cloud to one of the city entrances and both of them paid their way in. Jie led the way forward while Hu Tao rested his arms behind his head while the walked. He thought about flying through the city from overhead but already knew that the forces lying in the city would be on him faster than he could react. As a Qi Consolidator, he still wasn’t anything special in the world of cultivators. For them they were still little chicks until they reached the Core Preparation stage. The City Lord’s forces would be able to kill him with a fart if they wanted to as of now. Well, a fart infused with qi.

“This city really changed since the last time I was almost killed here. It doesn’t look like shit anymore.” Hu Tao conversated.

“It has also been a long time since I've seen this place too but it still feels just like home...” Warmth filled Jie’s chest.

“Home huh?” A strange look appeared in Hu Tao’s eyes.

  Jie wondered what was his home like. Who were his parents? And how the hell did they raise such a child so terribly? Their parenting was so bad, Jie wanted to slap them more than once for what they brought into this world.

“My family’s building is over here. I’ll go in first. It’ll probably take a while to calm them all down and to explain the situation to them. I haven’t returned home since I left.” Jie explained.

“Whatever.” Hu Tao posted up on the side of the building and crossed his arms.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Please don’t go anywhere.” She begged.

“Just fucking go already!” He yelled. She started walking in but before she completely passed through the doors, took one last pleading look at Hu Tao. Then disappeared inside the building.

“What an annoying bitch.” Hu Tao muttered. “To think I'm doing all this crap for some ass...”

“Hey there Uncle. I never seen you around here before.” Some street rat walked up to him.

“I don’t got any money kid. Beat it.” Hu Tao responded.

“I don’t want any money, Uncle. I pass by the Su family’s building every day and I've never seen someone like you before.”

“Good. Then get out of my face and leave already.”

“Do you have any food Uncle?” A piece of spirit beast meat slapped the kid right in the face.

“Now get.” The kid bowed his head in thanks as he ripped into the meat like a starving pup.

  That cooked beast meat didn’t stand a chance against that kid’s ravenous appetite. He could barely tear into it with his mortal baby teeth but that didn’t stop him from sucking the juices and licking the meat. It kind of reminded Hu Tao of how he used to be when he was younger. The kid was a little bit uglier than he used to be but that didn’t matter all that much. After finishing his gift, he walked off with his protruding belly down the street before quickly hobbling back after seeing something and trying to hide behind Hu Tao’s leg.

“What the hell? Get off me you little rat.”

“Sorry Uncle! You don’t mind being generous and helping me again, do you?!” He fiercely hung onto Hu Tao’s pants.

  Two burly men looked at Hu Tao with the scared child behind him.

“We don’t want to trouble you, sir. We just want the kid.” They politely explained.

“Take the little rat, I don’t give a shit.” Hu Tao plucked the kid off his leg and tried to hand him over to the men but the little beggar hung onto his arm for dear life and wrapped himself around him.

  The desperation and fear in his eyes spoke to Hu Tao on an emotional level but not enough to save the brat. No, if the kid wanted him to step in, he had to prove himself. Why should Hu Tao trouble himself with a bunch of Qi Gatherers at the first stage for some mortal brat? He was already involved in something he had no interest in doing.

“Uncle!” The kid fiercely looked into Hu Tao’s eyes.

  Somehow, an entire story was held within them that Hu Tao could read. That story read to his heart and tried to convince him why he should save this kid. It tried and tried and tried to get to him by using his emotions before everything suddenly clicked for Hu Tao. This fucking brat had an awakened bloodline and was trying to use it on him! Was that why he felt sorry for him and didn’t just fucking boot him after he latched onto him?

“You little...” Hu Tao grabbed the kid by the back of the neck and held him off the ground. “Oi. You two can fuck off. I’ll deal with this kid.” Hu Tao told them.

“I’m sorry sir but that kid owes us a lot of money. He needs to pay it off by working for us for the next 10 years.”

“Do I have to repeat myself? I said fuck off.” Hu Tao flicked a qi-infused ear wax in the direction of the persistent thug and sent him flying off into the distance. His partner quickly fled without taking a single look behind.

“You’re amazing Uncle...” The kid had stars in his eyes after seeing Hu Tao’s strength.

“Looks like it's your lucky day kid. If you don’t die by the end of today, consider yourself the first member of the Badass Angels.” Hu Tao grinned.