Chapter 1 Leaving the Family
"Hey, isn't this the fourth brother from the Xue family? So you still haven't learned the real qi? Hha . . ."
The town of Yuyang had two powerful families, the Xue family and the Nie family. Both clans were skilled in martial arts cultivating the qi.
The leaders of both families were Land Rulers, too. While they didn't rule the town, Sima Shao, the town chief, never dared to mess with the two families.
The leader of the Xue family, Xue Liang, had four sons. When he got older and became the family leader, Liang didn't want any more kids. His three older sons were not exceptional but decent.
The oldest son, Long, learned the qi at the age of twelve. The second oldest son, Hu, achieved it at fourteen, while the third son, Xuebao, learned at ten years old. The elder Xue was hoping his youngest son would be even better, but Yuxiao, about to turn sixteen, still hadn't figured out the qi.
Liang felt disappointed and focused all of his energies on Xuebao's training, ignoring his fourth son.
Yuxiao was known as the fourth young master at home, but his cousins called him Number 4. Even his younger cousins like Yufei, who learned the qi at nine and was only twelve years old now, called him Number 4 to his face, despite Yuxiao's irritation.
The head of the Nie family, Nie Yishan, had four children, too: two sons and two daughters. The older daughter, Zhangyan, learned the qi at eight years old, and Xu'er, the younger girl, learned it at six. At sixteen years old, Xu'er became a Land Master, and was sent to the royal academy to be a disciple.
The Nie family's third child, Feng, learned the qi at five, was promoted to Land Master at twelve, and at age sixteen, became the only disciple of a Holy Mentor at the royal academy. The fourth Nie child, Hong, got the qi at nine, and became a Fight Master before his coming-of-age ceremony, although the formal test was to be conducted after the ceremony.
Nie Hong walked with four members of his entourage on the streets of Yuyang. The object of Hong's ridicule was apparently Xue Yuxiao.
Yuxiao knew if he didn't get the qi by sixteen, he would probably never figure it out, and then he'd really just be a waste of space to his family. Lots of people already saw him this way—it was just that no one called him useless to his face yet.
Most of the ordinary families in town wouldn't insult him directly. They were just regular people who wouldn't have qi anyway; only people from the Nie family would embarrass him.
Initially, Yuxiao wanted to attend the coming-of-age ceremony with his father this year, but he was afraid of shaming him. The group qi exam at the plaza was something both the Xue and the Nie clan went to every year, so Yuxiao knew the route very well. He wanted to leave later to avoid running into his cousins and any of the Nies, but he still couldn't help seeing Nie Hong and his cohorts.
Nie Hong wanted to leave earlier, but he knew going over with his cousins wouldn't get him any attention, so he waited to leave until all the elders and the older boys left before he finally headed out with four male cousins. This was how he ran into Xue Yuxiao; his pride and ego wouldn't let him give up a chance to thoroughly embarrass his rival.
Yuxiao had a honest face, and he was tanned and always wore ordinary clothes. He had shoulder-length black hair. He could not compare to Nie Hong, who wore high-end white clothes, had flirty eyes, a tall nose, and looked like an idol. Yuxiao didn't say anything as he approached Hong.
"Not only is he useless, he's got no manners either. Hey, moron number four, let's walk together," Hong said, clearly plotting against Yuxiao.
Yuxiao quickened his steps. His eyes were sad. He remained silent and did not look back at Hong.
"Hey, you moron, are you giving me attitude? Get him! How dare he diss me!"
Hong ordered his relatives to attack.
Hong's entourage was used to acting like bullies. Since they knew hurting the fourth son of the Xue family wouldn't matter to anyone, they walked up to Yuxiao and started hitting him. Yuxiao simply stayed on the ground and covered his head, not crying in pain nor begging for them to stop.
After seeing no reaction from Yuxiao, the Nie family bullies grew bored and looked to Hong for direction on what to do.
"Are you really a moron? Why aren't you fighting back?"
Hong cussed and kicked Yuxiao, who was curled up on the ground. Seeing no response, Hong said, "Make a sound."
Suddenly, a fistful of fire came out of Hong's hand and flew toward Yuxiao's butt. The flames licked away the fabric, leaving a handprint of burn mark and the smell of burning flesh.
Yuxiao shuddered with pain on the ground and from his tightly pressed lips leaked a trickle of blood, but still, he didn't say a word. The other four Nie cousins were scared, however, and they persuaded Hong, "Fourth Prince, let's go. If our clan elder knew about this, it wouldn't be good."
Hong was a little frightened by now, too. He was used to lording over others, but had never fought with qi. He only ever used qi at home while training. Today, he just wanted to scare Yuxiao, but when his hateful thoughts came out, so did the fire. Seeing the shaking Yuxiao, he was a little stunned. Hearing his cousins' words, he quickly fled with them toward the plaza where the qi exam was taking place.
The five young men disappeared from around Yuxiao. Watching them leave, Yuxiao seemed older than his years. Gritting his teeth, he stood up. His clothes were dusty. He tied a knot where the hole was and hobbled toward outside the town.
Ordinary people only had one chance at the qi exam plaza, when they were close to coming of age. If there was qi found on the testing stage, the military, the Xue, or the Nie family would invite them to join.
While people in the Xue or the Nie family went to the exam for the coming-of-age ceremony, it was mostly to show off how much qi they had cultivated. Yuxiao knew he wouldn't test well anyway. He made up his mind, thinking, If no one in my family respects me, and I am bullied by the Nie family, too, I might as well leave and try it on my own.
Yuxiao hobbled his way to a street vendor who wrote letters for people. Asking for some paper and a brush pen, he wrote a "leaving home" letter and paid a coin as thank you. He then went to the letter carrier pavilion and asked for it to be sent to the Xue family.
Yuxiao next found a medical pavilion and had the doctor check out his burned buttocks. He got some burn ointment as well as medicine and left fifty coins as payment. He went to the city gates and asked the soldiers where there was war and how to win medals there.
Seeing Yuxiao's difficulty in walking, they made fun of him. "Keep heading south. The border area might have a war."
Yuxiao, trusting their advice, headed south. Passing him were mostly strongmen on horseback, as well as people in carriages. Very rarely were there pedestrians. Yuxiao, carrying his sack of medicine, frightened others into avoiding him for fear of contracting any mystery illnesses.
Yuxiao was used to no one playing with him in his family, and spoke little, so he was familiar with being lonely. He kept following the road to the south.
It wasn't until dark that he reached a small village. His stomach grumbled. There were no inns to be seen. After asking around, he learned there was no such thing here. The closest inn was twenty miles away.
Yuxiao was exhausted and starving, plus his wound hurt; he had to stop. He looked at an older woman standing at a doorway and said, "Ma'am, please give me some food and let me stay one night. I'll leave as soon as it's light out. I'll pay whatever you ask."
Perhaps Yuxiao's plain face didn't seem threatening. The lady said, "We have some leftover food. Do you like buns? If you do, we'll heat some up. No need for money. We have no rooms, just a storage shed for firewood. Not sure if it'll do."
Yuxiao squeezed out a smile. "That's great. I can make do in the shed. Sorry to trouble you."
The woman told him, "No trouble at all. C'mon in. I'll get my son." She shouted toward the inner rooms, "Da Niu, come greet our guest!"
"Huh? We have guests?"
A muscular man came out of the house, speaking in a dense voice.
"Isn't he a guest? Take him to the living room and let him rest. I'll go heat up food." The woman went toward the kitchen.
Da Niu grinned at Yuxiao. "C'mon in."
Yuxiao said, "I'll go to the shed. I have a wound and don't want to mess up the living room."
Da Niu scratched his head. "We all eat in the living room. If you don't go there, we can't feed you."
Yuxiao had no choice but to follow Da Niu inside, and sat down in spite of the pain. As they chatted, the older woman brought out the food. Yuxiao ate ravenously. When he finally paused, Da Niu was amazed. "Brother, you don't look like a laborer. How could you eat this much? You ate up all of our food."