Chapter 8: The Prelude

As he neared the village, Jia Yuan’s nostrils filled with

the smell of smoke and blood. Clearly, the fighting had resulted in quite some bloodshed already.

Jia Yuan reached the edge of the village, and saw about ten

bandits brandishing steel scimitars while chasing a group of children who looked to be less than 8 years old.

“You bastards!” Screamed Jia Yuan as he charged at the

bandits.

When he came within a meter of the bandits, he

dug his back foot in the ground and sent out an explosion of force to dash

through the bandits, while drawing his wooden sword at the same time!

This was the sword unsheathing method, which Jia Yuan had

developed as an efficient way to begin his Dance. As such, Jia Yuan’s first

real fight after acquiring a Song had begun.

The dash propelled Jia Yuan through the ten bandits, and he

sliced through all ten with a single strike of his sword.

A bystander would have noticed that not only was Jia Yuan’s dash

fast, but when he had propelled himself using his back foot, a fiery blaze

exploded out from under said foot, adding to the force of the dash. In addition,

his sword strike was not only fast and forceful, but his sword was surrounded

by a thick fiery aura.

As such was the power of a Song. Not only could Jia Yuan use

the power of fire, but he would not be harmed his own fire, and this

self-protection was even applied to his clothes and weapons.

After slaying the ten bandits, Jia Yuan felt a surge of

power course through his body.

The 2nd level of Absorption!

I guess I just needed

some external stimulus huh.

However, there seemed to be over a hundred bandits fighting

about 50 men of the village. As for their strength, the ones that

had been dispatched by Jia Yuan were the weakest. (which was why they were

chasing children)

It looks like this

will be a fun battle.

For the first time in his life, Jia Yuan was fighting to the

death against other humans.

For the first time in his life, he was fighting more than

one opponent at once.

For the first time in his life, he felt the joy of a battle.

Although the above took a while to explain, it all happened

within the span of about three seconds. In less than three seconds, a child at

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the age of 11, had slain 10 grown men, who despite being weak, were used to

being bandits and had somewhat gotten used to using their scimitars.

Unfortunately for them, none of them had acquired a Song,

and thus had not reached even the 1st level of Absorption. As such,

these grown men could not even compare to the child they had just been slain

by.

Jia Yuan finished surveying the surroundings and began

sprinting to the villagers. After all, he had to do his best to keep them

alive, or he himself may die from being surrounded bandits. In this battle, he

and the villagers were makeshift allies.

However, how could all of the bandits be so weak?

In fact, the leader of the bandits was at the 5th

level of Absorption, and his Song was currently suppressing the villagers.

But alas, this is where Jia Yuan’s inexperience came in to

play.

Jia Yuan foolishly assumed that all of the bandits were at

the strength of the bandits he had met previously, and charged into the midst

of the fighting, trading blows with several bandits at once.

Fortunately, Jia Yuan immediately realized his mistake when

the first few bandits he encountered easily parried his blows.

Shit! I made a

mistake! I have to get out of here!

Jia Yuan looked around him. He had unwittingly ran into an

earlier conflict, and now he and 3 other villagers were surrounded by 5

bandits.

…

It looks like I will

have to use my Song.

Jia Yuan immediately calmed his soul, and prepared his Song.

The villagers beside him noticed the change in this child’s

demeanor and were shocked, questions emerging in their minds.

“What? Such a young kid has acquired a Song?”

“Is he a noble? But that can’t be, his clothes are tattered

and faded! Even if he is a free man, he looks like a beggar!”

“How strong is this kid? Is it enough to save us?”

The 5 bandits surrounding Jia Yuan had not noticed the

change within Jia Yuan, as they didn’t think much of this kid with a wooden

sword who had joined the fray. After all, they didn't have time to, as they had three villagers standing in front of them with real weapons as well.

For the first time in history, the Song of Swords was about to show its domineering ability.