Sam was hunched over with his hip to the ground and an arm raised to block the next blow.

Zhao Jing was in a particularly foul mood that day, as he’d begun to hit Sam the very moment that the boy had sagged to the ground.

I just can’t do it anymore. I’ll either throw up or pass out if I use the skill again.

His “handler” didn’t care about such things. Zhao Jing cared about only one thing: money.

The first blow struck and rocked Sam’s shoulder, causing him to grunt and readjust his blocking arm. He began to reel in his consciousness to that small place within himself where he could find some peace from the pain.

“Just heal one more person, and I’ll let you stop for the day.”

Sam could hear Jing’s voice, though it sounded very far away to his mind.

He’s just tricking me. Does he really think I’ll keep falling for that?

If Sam healed another person, then Jing would beat Sam harder and for longer, saying that he must have quit too early or that he was trying to store up mana and reduce profits.

Sam felt a few more blows come down before they stopped. There was a pause, though he didn’t look up. Sometimes Jing liked to wait until Sam thought everything was over to start again.

“If you don’t get up and heal my next customer, we won’t be going to see your ‘friends’ tomorrow.”

This caused Sam to bring his head up in an instant. This was a new low, even for the burly merchant. While the servants of the Celestial Sect weren’t his friends, he found more peace with them than the sect’s warriors. He tried to sneak them small amounts of healing to aid with aches and small sicknesses, though anything too much and Jing would think he was wasting precious healing that could be charged for.

The man towered over Sam, his form a round silhouette against the setting sun and a wicked grin on his face.

Tears welled up in Sam’s eyes.

How did it all end up like this? Why is it like this? I want to go home.

His vision blurred, and despite the pain in his shoulders and his extremely low mana, Sam was about to position himself to heal the richly dressed man in front of him.

Sam heard the wicked chuckle too late, knowing that there was still one more blow to come. It was the one that Jing liked to say was “for good measure,” as if an extra few hits here and there would remind Sam of something important.

He hunched his shoulders and braced himself, shutting his eyes tight. A heartbeat later, no blow landed. There was just the rustling of clothes, and while Sam heard the sound of leather smacking flesh, he didn’t feel the pain.

Did he hit my head again? What happened?

Bewildered, Sam looked up to see a new tall and shadowy figure standing over him.

From the angle on the ground, he could only see the stranger’s back, but it was clear that he was wearing the sect’s white robes.

Did one of those guys finally feel bad for me?

For almost a year, the sect members and guards had turned a blind eye to Old Man Jing’s treatment. For the first few months, Sam couldn’t figure out why. He had thought that people in any world would feel bad for beating a teenager, and he didn’t see anyone else getting hit like he was. It had taken some time to really understand what was happening. **

“Let him go, now.”

Sam heard a deep and angry voice. It was a frighteningly quiet kind of anger that Sam didn’t hear often in the portal world. Most of the time, Jing liked to yell and cause a scene while beating him up. This was the opposite.

He squinted his eyes and looked up again to notice that the man had caught the metal weighted strap in mid-swing and was now standing just a few inches from Jing with his body between Sam and the merchant.

Sam couldn’t tell if he wanted to scramble away from the man or get further behind him. Something about the danger in his voice made the boy believe that he could back up those words.

“And who do you think you are? Move along before you get hurt. Do you know who my family is?” Jing’s sneering voice sent a shiver down Sam’s spine.

While Sam didn’t know who his family was, it was clear that they had a big name in the city. Whenever Jing said things like this in an argument, the other side almost immediately backed off. Sam sighed, sure that he knew what his mysterious savior would do next.

The man would step back to apologize, Jing would laugh in his face or maybe spit, but then the merchant would take things even further. He knew that the round man liked to humiliate people, especially if they caused any kind of trouble for him.

“No. I don’t give a fuck who your family is. You need to let him go now.” Jing took a breath to retort, but the man interrupted him. “I swear, if you say another word, I’m going to punch you.”

His voice was calm but seemed to shake with rage.

Why is this so much scarier than the yelling?

Sam heard Jing make a ‘tsk’ sound and raise his other hand in surrender. “Alright, friend. Alright. Let me get his key from my pouch.”

It’s a lie.

The man released his hold on the strip of leather, and Sam watched from the lower angle as Jing turned to hide his arm from the stranger and prepare for a swing. Sam closed his eyes tight, feeling regret and sadness.

There was a rustling of robes and a different sound than expected. Sam’s head whipped up, and he saw that Jing was bent over and holding his throat while coughing loudly.

“Dumbass… But man, it felt good to hit your smug face.”

Sam saw the man shrug as he spoke to himself. He turned and crouched down to put himself at eye level with the teenager.

His voice changed completely, no longer dangerous with a hard edge. There was an overwhelming amount of compassion that Sam hadn’t heard since he was with his family. It instantly brought tears to his eyes.

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“Are you okay? My name is-” The man paused as he saw Sam’s lip quiver, and tears sprang forth, “Hey, hey, it’s alright. You don’t need to worry. This won’t happen to you again.”

Sam did his best to compose himself, but the gates were open, and the tears continued to flow unbidden.

When Sam saw his face, he knew that the stranger must be a high-ranking member of the Sect. A large scar ran from one cheek to the other, crossing the bridge of his nose. It was clear that the man was a warrior, if not from his calm confidence, then from the proof on his face.

Even more telling was his eye. Since coming to this strange world, Sam had heard tales that their Sect Head would return one day. One thing that had been consistent in those stories was the powerful eyes of the Celestial Sage. He’d had difficulty picturing what a ‘celestial glow among shining stars in the night’ would look like and had often thought it was an exaggeration.

Is he the Sect Head? No, that doesn’t make sense. They say his skin shines and is bald.

Sam looked up and saw the disheveled, long hair atop the man’s head and the unkempt beard.

“Val, watch out for him, okay? We have some company.”

Val, who is that?

Sam wiped his eyes as he heard rushed footsteps approaching. He knew the sect’s people would likely respond before the guards. That was part of the reason Jing liked to work on the streets so close to the Grand Pagoda.

“What’s going on here.” Someone called as they pushed through the crowd.

“Senior brother, this one begs forgiveness. Our Honored Guest does not know the way of things here in Tianluo.” Said another person in sect robes, though Sam noted that he was a disciple by the way he spoke and that the robes were unadorned.

W-wait, an Honored Guest?

Sam let out a strangled cry as he pushed himself into a sitting position and up against the wooden stall that Jing used. There was a floating blue monster only a few inches from Sam. Its large round eyes watched him for a moment and flew quickly around his head before returning its attention to the proceedings.

“Friend.”

A small voice came to Sam’s mind.

What?

“Well, if he doesn’t know how things work, then maybe we should show him.” There was a wicked grin on the senior’s face.

“Senior Brother, please. I must guide the Honored Guest to meet with the Sect Head. He has just bathed, and we are going there now.”

This caused the other man to pause before his grin returned. “Very well, but the boy stays here. He does belong to Friend Zhao.”

Even with his back turned, Sam could see the head of the one they called 'Honored Guest' shaking. “No, he comes with us.”

“You’re an outsider. Mind your own business; this doesn’t concern you.” A second sect member said as he backed up the first.

“It does concern me. He’s a child. Do you enjoy seeing a grown man beat on a child?” Some of the dangerous edges seeped back into the stranger’s voice.

“How we treat our people is none of your concern.”

“Oh, but he’s not one of your people, is he? This is my business, you see-” The man walked down the two steps to get closer to the men and Sam watched as his fingers stayed extended and pointed at the ground. They seemed unnaturally stiff, and Sam thought it looked odd compared to how relaxed the rest of his body was. “This is my business because he’s one of my people.”

One of his people? I’ve never seen you before…

“We have the same home. So it is my business, and I can’t think of any reason for you to stand up for someone like that child-beating trash over there.” He casually gestured at Jing, who had passed out on the ground next to Sam. “You keep calling yourselves honorable, but I’m really not seeing much for you to lean on here.”

The same home? He’s from Earth!? Oh my god.

Tears blurred Sam’s vision.

The small speech caused the sect members to look around. Five were gathered then, standing shoulder to shoulder.

“Senior Brother, please allow me to escort both of the outsiders to the Sect Head.”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief as the group took another step back, and it seemed like the mystery man would not be attacked.

“What a shame.” Sam heard. He watched as all of the fingers, except the index finger, relaxed on the man’s right hand. The pointer finger was straight and rigid, pointing directly at the ground. “You, on the left. You don’t recognize me?”

The man averted his eyes.

“Oh, you do recognize me. I was wondering because now I have clothes on, and I’m not covered in blood.”

Several of the men gave him an angry look and looked like they might begin to advance once more. The one in the front held up his hand to stall the others.

“You must think yourself strong to stand behind the Sect Head’s power.”

The man laughed. “Buddy, I’ve eaten things stronger than you in the last week alone. I’m not hiding. I’m right here. If anything, it looks to me like it’s you hiding behind an excuse.” He then did something curious. Casually, he reached into a pouch and removed a feather, which he tossed on the ground to his left.

Why is he trying to goad the men? He’s clearly outnumbered.

“I was going to let you leave with the disciple here, but now I think I’d like for you to bow down and apologize to the sect members here for the inconvenience.”

The man snorted loudly and scratched the back of his head in a clear dismissal before reaching into his pouch for a heavy metal ball and tossing it onto the packed dirt to his right.

“Senior Brother, ple-”

“Enough! Apologize now, or we’ll have a nice friendly sparring match before your meeting with the Sect Head. There are plenty here who would attest to your rude behavior.”

Sam watched as the man shook his head and planted his feet. He squared his shoulders and looked at the group of five. To the teenager on the ground, this man’s back seemed to be unbelievably broad and strong.

I know that the sect warriors are powerful. They have even strong-armed Jing and his merchant guards.

Sam had doubted the man twice now and been disproven. A desperate, very deep-down part of him wanted to see this man humiliate the sect members. That thought scared Sam a bit, as he’d never wished harm on others, even Jing; he’d just wished to be free of the situation and to return home safely.

“Well,” the man said. “Quit stalling. Call it a spar if you want, I don’t care.”

The group shared glances before advancing. Sam was relieved to see that none of them drew weapons, signaling that things wouldn’t get deadly. He could, however, see several of them with the telltale golden glow of the sect’s Qi techniques. While they might not kill the outsider, it was clear that they meant him harm.

Sam watched as the man stood still and didn’t move an inch, even as they fanned out and approached him. The group leaped forward at once, reaching out to subdue the strange foreigner.

While they were in the air or lunging across the ground, Sam saw the most subtle flash of blue from the man’s fingertip. In an instant, his robes were pulled flat against his body as if drenched by water, though they appeared dry.

The group of five crossed an unseen barrier, and all of them crumpled to the ground in unison. At first, Sam thought they had passed out, but as he heard struggling grunts and calls for help, he realized that they were being restrained somehow.

Woah…

Sam stared at the man in awe as all five of the sect members were subdued in an instant. He watched on as the man slowly reached into his pouch and removed a rock. With struggling steps, as if he was under great pressure, he moved forward and positioned his hand over one of their heads.

From his position, Sam couldn’t hear what he said to the man, but he did realize that the sect member he was speaking to was the one who seemed to know him before the fight.

Can you even call it a fight?

There was a pause and no answer. The man said something again before letting go of the rock. The pull toward the ground made the rock fall with greatly increased speed, and it cracked into the ground only an inch from the man’s skull.

Several long heartbeats passed, and when the group stopped struggling, the man told them that the fight was over.

“I’ll be taking Samuel with me; if you have issues, you can come find me at the Sect Head’s office. Just remember, I’m stronger than you. I came here willingly because I know Eura. I could have fought back,” A flash of anger crossed his face as he glared down at the man below him. “Instead of hearing me out, you stripped and beat me, and I don’t think this makes us even close to even.”

A collective sigh of relief was heard from all five men on the ground as the pressure was released. The outsider turned and walked swiftly to Sam. As he did so, he reached up and pulled down a strip of cloth to cover his left eye.

“Can you walk?” He asked.

Sam nodded, too awe-struck and nervous to trust his voice.

Am I really saved? Free of this nightmare?

Tears sprung to his eyes again.

The small blue creature shimmered into a blur as if it flew up into the air, and Sam wondered if it had really been there at all. He felt a hand on his shoulder to guide him.

Sam lowered his head and wept, doing his best to wipe the tears and not let the sobs escape. As they walked toward the main street, they passed the men on the ground. When they passed, he could see a small crater in the dirt next to the man’s head, where the rock was still embedded.

The sect member had sat up but was just staring at the indent with wide eyes.

In front of them, the young disciple, only a few years older than Sam, led the small trio through the crowd that parted before them.

I don’t know who you are. But thank you. Thank you…