Liu Feiyan observed the mystical scene with her eyes full of emotion; cultivators were very rare, so everything related to them seemed impressive in the eyes of someone ordinary like her.

Seeing her gaze fixed on him, Jian felt embarrassed in front of a stunning beauty like her. He had noticed that she liked to go out for a walk at this time, so he decided to start practicing his best techniques.

His fists clenched tightly. He was just a Martial from a small sect that needed to offer guard services to pay for expenses.

Several irritating thoughts were always in his mind.

‘How could someone like me have the audacity to covet the young daughter of a leader of such a wealthy guild?’

‘Face reality! I’m still in the Medium Red Core after all these years as a cultivator; I don’t have what it takes to have someone like her by my side.’

Jian shook his head, casting one last embarrassed glance at Liu Feiyan before leaving.

image [https://i.imgur.com/CJALaUN.png]

“Hello, my name is Dusk; I’m 9 years old. My parents are adventurers; they wanted to get to the east, but we were attacked by a pack of wolves.” Tristan pretended to sniff a bit and rubbed his eye, trying to dry invisible tears.

He was sitting around a campfire, telling his story to the people in the camp.

“The wolves attacked me, and I was badly hurt, but my parents managed to keep them occupied so that I could escape. I hid somewhere in the forest and stayed there alone for three weeks, but I couldn’t find much food. Then one day, I felt so hungry that I fainted; after that, I only remember waking up here at the camp.”

Tristan finished telling his fabricated story while trying his best to turn his normally expressionless face into a sad grimace.

He tried to justify some of his old scars with the wolf attack and the weeks he spent alone without food to explain his physical appearance.

Inventing a good explanation for why he was there was very complicated; saying he was a young cultivator who suddenly decided to go east was out of the question. They would think he was either very strong or very crazy.

So, he simply decided to invent a story where he would be a poor child among more crazy and irresponsible ones.

Of course, his story was terrible and full of holes.

But he was just a child; no one could blame him for not being clear in his explanations; in fact, that would be consistent with his age.

“Why did your parents want to go east?” Liu Feiyan asked.

Tristan shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”

Liu Feiyan nodded, thinking it was normal for a child not to know the plans of adults.

“Didn’t you see when the magical beast found you?” Lan asked.

“No.”

“Then you also don’t know how the magical beast lost its head?” Jian asked.

“No idea.”

That was the advantage of being a child.

Before the people could ask any more irritating questions, he prepared for the final blow.

“Thank you for what you have done for me so far, but I think it’s time for me to look for my parents,” Tristan said, trying to put on an innocent face, though not very successfully.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

But it seemed that his pitiable appearance made up for it, as the sad and uncomfortable expressions on the faces of the people in front of him indicated that they had believed his act.

Zhou Lan said, “Are you planning to leave? But your arms are still broken!”

Tristan shyly looked at his feet and said, “But I’m a cultivator; I can manage.”

Zhou Lan shook his head and said, “Hmm… You should come with us until you recover; it’s not safe for you to leave like this!”

“Your parents should be able to find us later, hmm… it will be fine if you stay here.”

Zhou Lan turned to the guild leader, Liu Junhan, and spoke respectfully, “Liu Junhan, would you allow Dusk to accompany us on our journey? I am willing to take responsibility for everything!”

Liu Junhan nodded and said, “No problem.” He was still happy with the red crystal he had won.

image [https://i.imgur.com/CJALaUN.png]

Moving through the darkness of the night, Tristan was in one of the last wagons; he preferred to stay in the back because that way he could see the movements of everyone else. Even after spending the last week with the people in the caravan, he still felt completely uncomfortable around them.

But he didn’t have much choice in the matter; although he didn’t like it, he knew it would be difficult to survive alone with both arms incapacitated. In his current state, he would need many months to heal.

His advance to the east was also much slower since the guild members had to find routes with the fewest hills and slopes so that it was possible to cross with all the wagons being pulled by horses. Because of this, they could never move in just one direction; sometimes, they had to go several kilometers around to find a lower road to the east.

Of course, this was much safer, but anxiety sometimes filled his heart, especially now in his situation.

‘Maybe I should take this time to try to make Fallen Grace become a real healing ability.’

While thinking about this, Tristan looked around his surroundings. They were currently traversing a narrow path through a mountain gorge.

Suddenly, he saw a girl jumping between the moving wagons; her movements were light, smooth, and silent, like the walk of a fairy. Yue had approached him.

“Hey, Dusk!” she said.

“Hello,” he replied.

He no longer felt as uncomfortable around her as he did with the others; perhaps it was because of her laid-back personality or because she was just an innocent child to him.

“Can I ask why you always stay away from us and alone? Don’t you like being here?” she asked him.

Tristan looked at her thoughtfully.

“I'm just not good at interacting with other people, so it’s easier to be alone,” he replied, shrugging.

She looked at him while her long blue hair swayed in the wind.

“I think... I understand,” she said, looking down sadly.

He sighed, feeling as if he had a backpack full of bricks on his shoulder.

Tristan hesitated a bit and asked her, “Do you know if there’s any sect specializing in Light and Darkness in Zaguhan?”

Surprised by this, she answered excitedly, “Of course, although sects specializing in Light and Darkness are very rare, Zaguhan is a big city. Have you heard of the South Carp Body and Spirit Sect?”

He shook his head.

Yue continued, “That sect is quite famous there; it’s much more powerful and older than the Flying Sword Sect. I’ve heard that they have several Martial Specialists.”

“It is said that their style is fluid and versatile, focusing on the balance of body and soul. But I’ve also heard that these elements are very difficult to master and require an extreme understanding of the world and oneself. Although, personally, I don’t extend much on what that means.”

Tristan listened attentively to what Yue was saying.

‘South Carp Body and Spirit Sect?’ he thought to himself. ‘Maybe it would be good for me to stay in Zaguhan for a while and try to join this sect; I urgently need to expand my skill set; my intuition tells me that I won’t be able to reach the east if I continue like this.’

He saw Yue abruptly turn her face toward somewhere in front of the caravan, curiosity in her eyes.

Tristan turned his face in the direction she was looking, which was above a small mound on the right side of the path they would be passing.

“What?” he asked her.

“Oh, I heard something that way; I tried to see what it was, but it’s too dark,” she replied.

He frowned, trying to concentrate, but all he could hear was the wind blowing, the sound of the wagon wheels, and the horses' hooves hitting the ground.

Then he looked in that direction and stared for a while; his vision had been greatly enhanced by cultivating Darkness and was even better in the dark. His modified eyes were able to perceive small movements.

Tristan focused on what he was seeing, noticing a shadow forming.

“Is that... a person?”

He saw someone in front of the caravan, but he also saw something more.

That person was holding something—a crossbow!

‘Damn! What to do?’

“Ambush! Retreat!” he shouted.

Of course, no one paid much attention to what he was saying.

That was the disadvantage of being a child.

“What’s that brat talking about?” Wang Liao said with a grimace on his face.

“Um... what?” Jian said, confused.

‘Amateurs,’ Tristan thought angrily.

Suddenly, one of the front horses jumped, making sounds of pain; it began to move wildly, causing the first wagon to sway.

Tristan saw more arrows being shot at the caravan!

The group of men who had been hiding charged toward the merchant group, holding melee weapons in their hands, such as dao, jian, mace, and spear. They were wearing dirty animal skin clothes. Those people had a wild and slightly crazy appearance.

They were mountain bandits!