North of the Ming mountain range, In a remote village of the Jiang Dynasty –

“Get away from our village! You’re just a f*cking homeless!”

A bunch of kids dressed in scrappy clothes were seen throwing rocks at an even younger kid. Their eyes were sinister, and ruthless smiles adorned their faces as they giggled with menace. They looked like the incarnations of imps.

The younger kid was curled up like a woodlouse some meters away attempting to lessen the damage they inflicted with the rocks. His black hair was messy with tints of red from his blood, and he bit lip as he endured the continuous barrage of stones raining down on him. He held his arms up to protect his head.

“Kids, what are you doing?! Stop this instant!” 

A middle aged woman carrying a basin of water saw the scene and hurried over. Seeing this, the kids became pale with fright and immediately ran away, and left the young kid .

An expression of sorrow could be seen as the woman watched the young boy stand up. She put the basin on the ground, revealed a motherly but helpless smile, and went forward to embrace the young boy in her arms, trembling as she held him.

“Little Xiao, are you okay?”

“Yes, auntie. Thank you.” the younger boy nodded.

“Oh, little Xiao… why don’t you just come live with me? They won't dare to hurt you if you do this.” the middle aged woman wailed. Unfortunately, she knew the answer to her question, as she always had known.

A pained expression showed on Little Xiao’s face. It was quickly replaced with a fake smile as he took a few steps backward swatting of the dirt on his clothes.

“Sorry, Auntie. You know that’s not possible.”

The middle aged woman tried to persuade the boy. “Little Xiao, don’t you worry. I’m sure they will allow it if I go talk to them. Everything will be fine, just come with Auntie."

She stretched out her hand from him to grab.

“Sorry Auntie, I won’t let them trouble you for that.” turbulent feelings flashed in Xiao’s eyes as he shook his head.

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 “Don’t worry, Auntie. Nothing bad will befall me. I’ll head back now, thanks once again chasing them away.”

He clasped his hands together and bowed slightly, then scurried away from the street. Tens of minutes later, he made his way through the endless forest outside of the village. He had no place in this village, and only came here for food. He lived on his own inside the forest.

But of course, this was not without risks. The forest outside of the village’s borders was crawling with demons. The sect that governed the town came with disciples to vanquish them once a month to keep the village from being overrun.

Entering the small dwelling built in the tree crown of a big jungle tree, he removed his clothes and inspected his body. His torso was filled with bruises, and he felt pain when he pressed. One of his ribs were broken. As he looked at himself, tears were beginning to roll down his cheeks.

Even though he had taken it all with a straight face when talking to the middle aged woman, he was inwardly completely shaken. It wasn’t the first time those village brat had been evil to him, but it was the first time they resorted to such violence. Normally they would just curse at him, telling him to leave. 

Tears slowly ran down his cheeks.

“W-what did I do to deserve this?”

He covered his face with his hands, and actually started to sob. 

It was only after a while, when the urges to cry had stopped, that he removed his hands. His eyes were red. Snot, mucus and dirt were everywhere on his face.

But within those red and sad eyes, there was a small, flickering flame. This flame was determination. While his eyes gleamed with determination, he went further inside the small tree crown house and took something from under his bed.

Xiao Wen held a small statue in jade, depicting a man and his halberd facing the sky. Xiao Wen grabbed the miniature halberd and pulled so it faced forward. Seconds later, the statue split apart and revealed a small translucent bed inside. The exterior was white, while the inside excluded a golden light. Truly precious looking.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Xiao Wen said, throwing the bead to his mouth and letting it slide down his throat.