This story is set several years before the start of the actual story, and follows Yao Jun as a child. I wrote this long ago and planned on using it as a type of prologue, but eventually dropped the idea. I felt that simply throwing away the chapters would be a waste, so I figured that I might as well release them as extra chapters.
Chapter 0.1: Yao clan, Yao Jun.
Great Rock City was one of the larger cities in the Great Yan country. Half the city was built using a type of black stone, while the rest of the city was built using normal wood. Every building that was built out of the black stones had a large banner hanging down from the ceiling. This banner was completely black in color, with a large boulder insignia taking up most of the boulder.
This boulder was the mark of the Yao clan, the owners of this city. This city was the location of the largest Yao clan branch in the entire Great Yan country, so one could imagine how important the Yao clan was in this city.
The sun was hanging high in the sky, shining it's warm rays down onto the city below it. A young boy was running through the city, a radiant smile on his face. The young boy looked like he was no older than five, his face still had some baby fat, giving him rather round cheeks.
The boy had short, black hair, and black eyes that shone like crystals. He was clad in a black robe, the mark of the Yao clan engraved on the chest of the robe. At his waist hung a shiny longsword. The sword was almost as long as he was tall, so it looked rather comical as he ran around, but he did not seem to mind.
The little boy kept running through the town until he reached a wooden building. The building was two floors tall, with a wooden sign engraved with a loaf of bread engraved on it. The smell of fresh bread wafted out from the building, enticing people to enter it.
“Uncle Jiang, do you have any good sweets today?”
The young boy merrily entered the building, entering a large room with a counter at the other side of the room. Behind the counter was a door that led further into the building, the smell of bread came from behind that door. The young boy smiled at an old man standing behind the counter, skipping over with light steps.
“Oh? What has put you in such a good mood Little Jun, you are here even earlier than usual.”
The old man behind the counter looked over at the little boy and let out a smile as he spoke. There stood a male youth clad in coarse cotton clothing next to the old man. This youth shared a few features with the old man, so it was clear that they were related.
“My father gifted me this sword and promised me that he would start training me starting tomorrow.”
The young boy's smile grew even more radiant as he raised the sword at his waist, clearly trying to show off. But the sword was clearly too heavy for him to lift it as he pleased, so it was clear that he was struggling to hold it steady.
“So you have already gotten old enough to start training, I could have sworn it was only yesterday that you were still a little toddler in diapers.”
The old man laughed as he opened the door behind the counter, causing the smell of fresh bread to become even more dense. When he came back he had a small paper bag in his hand, there was a sweet smell coming from the bag.
“Here you go. I tried out a new cake recipe today, so there is more than usual, you can share a bit with your father and mother.”
The old man handed the paper bag to the young boy with a smile. The young boy immediately opened the bag and checked it's contents. Upon seeing the small, round cakes within, his smile grew even wider as he hurriedly gave a quick bow.
“Thank you Uncle Jiang!”
After he finished his bow, the boy turned around and merrily skipped out off the building, disappearing into the mass of people that were walking outside the building. After the boy left, the youth standing next to the old man couldn't help but turn to him.
“Grandfather, who was that?”
The youth had just recently arrived in this city, he had been working in a different city until recently, when his grandfather asked him to return and help him with the store. This was also the first time he had seen his grandfather this cheerful as he talked to a customer.
“That's Little Jun. Or rather, he is the Yao Clan's Yao Jun. He is the only son of Yao He and Yao Xun, even you should have heard about them.”
The old man waved his hand as he spoke, and indeed, even this youth had heard about Yao He and Yao Xun. They had spent many years fighting against the Demon Race, most of this time was spent fighting on the front line. To the common people, these kinds of people were basically heroes.
“I see, no wonder you would be so kind to him.”