Life here was slow. Like really slow. I hadn’t been paying much attention with everything going on but lately a type of homesickness I didn’t think possible had started to take hold. I missed the sounds of the city. The terrible smog and honking cars. The constant music. I missed it all. Maybe the big cities here were loud too. Probably a different kind of loud though.

These were the sort of thoughts that plagued me when it happened.

I wasn’t even in the forge. I was cooking breakfast when I leaned too far over. I didn’t think I was close enough to the fire for it to happen but it did.

My beard had gone up in flames.

Thankfully I didn’t burn my skin but half of my beard was now a wretched burnt mass. I could have shaved and played things off if it wasn’t for the fact that both Hu and old Long were watching me while it happened. I let out a horrible noise as I slapped myself in the face trying to put it out. I don’t think I had seen either of them laugh that hard before. I mentally took a note of where I found the spicy peppers last time. This kid was going to get them in everything he eats for the foreseeable future.

Long passed me a fresh thin blade. It seemed it was time. I wasn’t that surprised the old man had such nice shaving blades. He kept his own head as clean as a monk.

I looked at my reflection in the water. I really did look like a wild man. I didn’t have grime or anything like that, but my hair was getting long and matted while the remains of my beard made me look more like a cartoon parody of a hermit than the viking warrior I had been hoping to look like.

It took less time than I had expected to clean up my beard. Once I was finished I inspected my reflection and the massive pile of fur next to me.

I was lucky. Some guys that grow nice beards do so to cover up their chins for one reason or another. I’ve always looked best without my beard from a critical standpoint, but beards kick ass!

I sighed and tried to brush out my hair as well as I could with the pick-like comb I had gotten. I wasn’t going to try cutting it myself. I’m not that much of a masochist. So I just combed and cleaned up as well as I could before tying my hair in a warrior's knot.

NOT a man bun.

Once I had returned. Both Long Fa and Wang Hu stared at me for some time without saying anything.

“What?” Those sorts of silences can get uncomfortable fast.

“W-was that beast-man's voice? But who’s you?” Hu seemed to be honestly confused and his response made my eye twitch.

“Ha, you finally look human.” Old Long on the other hand was still wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes from seeing me light myself on fire.

“To hell with you both.” I sat down and we finished our breakfast together. I had always been pretty much alone before. It was a feeling I couldn’t quite describe to have daily meals with people. But it was nice.

After eating, Hu and I were sent to gather wood. The trees were dense and solid despite how small and thin they were. I left my new machete at the house since it wasn’t the proper tool for the job. I ended up regretting it when the ax we brought was blunted before we felled a single one of the tiny trees.

“It’s probably because you’re cursed!” Hu laughed a bit as he said it.

“If anyone is cursed it’s you, brat.” I responded while looking at the blunt ax in my hand.

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This was going to take forever.

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Long Fa had been a cultivator for longer than he cared to remember. Throughout all that time he had always been told the same thing by his masters and elders, even his peers in the later years had all said the same things.

“Spiritual energy is sacred.”

“The truth of the universe is in how we use our powers.”

None of them had really made sense to him if he was honest. He had always preferred solid things more than the spiritual arguments of the cultivators. It was why he had begun learning blacksmithing at such an old age. To feel the fire and swing his hammer brought him closer to the energy around him than any philosophy ever had.

That didn’t change the fact that Long Fa still tried to maintain some decorum. He was an earth realm cultivator after all. It would be beneath him to play a prank on someone…

He had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

The look on Henry's face was priceless. He had leaned over the fire and suddenly Long Fa couldn’t help himself. It was done before he even realized what he was doing. The minor spark of spiritual energy was all it took for the flames to jump into that wretched beard.

Perhaps his two rowdy apprentices were already getting to him.

But that noise. The noise he made was like a frightened pig. Long Fa didn’t think humans could make such a mixture of squealing fear and roaring surprise at the same time. Then he slapped himself. It wasn’t some small tap either. The man had caused his own cheeks to go red from the force he had begun hitting himself with.

Long Fa couldn’t hold back his laughter any more. It was a good thing he sent them away even though he didn’t actually need more firewood. It was uncouth for a master to fall over laughing and wheezing in front of his apprentices.

It was probably for the best anyways. Henry had looked like some monstrous hermit before. Now, even old Long had to admit that he seemed more like a marble sculpture than a mortal man.

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“We have found them, Sect Master.” The man bowed low in the reception hall of the Snow Peak Sect. He wore the silver lined robes of the sect elders. His voice was almost shaking. The master of the Snow Peak was the youngest heavenly realm cultivator in the world, and their sect would always be led by whoever was strongest. No matter how inexperienced.

“Where.” His expression didn’t change, but the elder knew the fact that he had acknowledged the report at all was telling of his concern.

“They are in a nameless village outside Iron Falls City.” He kept his statements as short as possible. More than once, someone had lost their head for speaking out of place regarding this mission.

“Continue to observe them. Do not let anyone know of your existence.” The young master spoke with authority and power. His porcelain face expressionless. The older man bowed once again as he began to make his way out of the hall.

“Wait.” He froze in fear when the young master spoke again.

“What’s their name?” The question was surprising. The elder was having trouble processing it.

“I am sorry but, who’s name?” he bowed again to try and show his servitude.

“What is the child’s name?” The leader looked at the elder without blinking while he asked.

“They seem to call him, Wang Hu, my lord.” Once he was done speaking he was waved out of the hall.

“Wang Hu…” When he was alone, the young leader let his mask slip away. He had learned how to hide his expressions by trying to emulate his sister. She was always better at these sorts of things than he was.

Perhaps it would be too presumptuous to send his nephew gifts to help him build his foundation. Especially since he had not spoken to his sister in ten years now. He shuffled himself on his chair, bobbing side to side while he tried to keep his thoughts in order. He would never do it in front of the elders but it was a habit he had trouble shaking.

The young master sighed as he looked at the grandiose halls around him.

Then a thought struck him. He couldn’t let his sister see him of course, but this was about the future of his nephew. As the master of the second most powerful sect on the continent it would be appalling if his nephew couldn’t reach at least the earth realm. Yes, that was why he would go to that nameless little village. The fact that he missed his sister had absolutely nothing to do with it! He just needed to make sure his nephew was receiving proper training.

He nodded to himself as if he had created some grand strategy before he began to prepare for departure…