He looked down. A boy in ragged, mud-stained clothes had fallen on the street. His face was pale, his eyes sunken, and his thin arms trembled as he scrambled up.
"Hey kid, are you okay?" Yuan bent and pulled him up.
The boy immediately bowed again and again, his voice cracking. "I-I'm sorry, mister! Please forgive me!"
The bustling crowd gave the pair a quick glance, then went back to haggling, uncaring.
"No, No—it's fine, Don't worry about it." Yuan smiled faintly trying to comfort him.
'Trrrrrr'
The loud growl of the boy's stomach drew chuckles from a couple of onlookers. The child flushed red with shame.
"Mister… do you… have anything to eat?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"Sure! Come with me." Yuan replied with a quiet smile. "This kid looks like he hasn't eaten in days and I'm hungry too…"
They headed down the busy street. Spirit herbs, glittering trinkets, and beast furs lined the shops. Finally, they stopped at a modest restaurant.
But as the saw child saw the restaurant he paused in mid-step.
"What happened?" Yuan asked curiously.
"N-no… it's nothing," the boy stammered, clutching his dirty sleeve.
Inside, the restaurant was warm, filled with the scent of spices and the chatter of diners.
A servant walked over, his polite smile fading when he noticed the ragged boy. His eyes narrowed in disgust, but Yuan ignored it and sat at an empty table.
"What would you like, sir?" the servant asked, Yuan ordered food. The little boy sat timidly, hiding behind Yuan's sleeve.
When water was served, Yuan took a sip before asking, "Kid, what's your name?"
"Y…Ye Hua."
He almost spat his drink. 'Cough! Cough! I hope he is not giving out fake names.'
Soon, the food arrived. Hot steam rose from the plates, making the boy's nose twitch. The moment Yuan nodded, he lunged forward, devouring the food like a starving wolf.
"Eat slower, little guy." Yuan said, shaking his head.
After a while, Yuan tossed some gold coins on the table and stood. Diners nearby glanced at him. He smirked, his eyes flashing with pride as he stepped outside.
They reached outside the entrance of the restaurant.
"Thank You!" the child spoke, staring up at him.
"It's nothing," Yuan replied absently, already distracted by a passing woman's swaying hips.
Then, the boy quickly pulled a grey scroll from his ragged clothes, stained and frayed at the edges. His small hands trembled as he offered it forward.
"…What's this?" Yuan frowned. "You little—! don't need it."
"This is nothing compared to your kindness… Please accept it!"
Yuan's brows drew together. 'What a brat… acting like some noble child even though he's just a beggar.'
Sitting down near him, Yuan patted the boy's head and stuffed a pouch of gold coins into his hand.
"Here! Take it—"
"Waah—!"
A sudden cry echoed through the street, cutting his words. Yuan snapped his head back.
In the distance, a crowd was gathering.
"What was that?" But when he turned around again, the boy was gone already running down the street, vanishing into the crowd.
"Hey—!" Yuan shouted, but the figure was long gone.
He sighed. "At least he took the pouch. With those coins, he'll survive months easily."
Then, his gaze dropped on a scroll he left behind by the boy lying on the ground. Yuan bent down and picked it up.
[Ding! Item Detected]
[A Technique Scroll]
[Description: ???]
"A technique scroll?" Yuan muttered. "Tch!, Why the hell is my cultivation so low, even a shabby scroll gives mystery!" With annoyance, he pulled it into his storage belt.
He then walked toward the commotion.
After passing between the crowd, his eyes fell on a dead body lying on the street, cut clean in half. The crowd buzzed with chatter.
"Someone got killed, ah!"
"Right in the middle of the street too!"
"Scary, Scary mommy…"
Yuan shook his head and moved on. "Someone got killed in the middle of the street."
And sighed heavily. "Haih~ Forget it… what can I even do? I'm just a First Layer cultivator. Better stay out of such matters."
As he walked further, a group of people passed by, speaking in low voices.
"Aiye~ nowadays killing people has become too common."
"Hey, did you hear? A few days ago, the Ye Clan was almost completely wiped out."
"The Ye Clan? Wasn't that one of the great powers in Louyang?"
"Yeah, But I heard they were mysteriously destroyed. Even the survivors are being hunted even now. And Maybe this murder is connected to that mysterious killer."
Yuan stopped in mid-street for a second.
"Ye Clan… Ye Hua?! That beggar kid…
could it be?"
But then shook his head. "What am I thinking? I already just got scammed by some brat calling himself Zhi Chen."
"And even if he had told me his real name… what can I even do? I'm only at First Layer…"
With a sigh, Yuan continued walking, with his thoughts heavy.
Soon, he reached an inn and decided to rest for the day. Luckily, he still had plenty of gold coins, along with a few spirit stones which he had wisely not handed over to Zhi Chen.
After all, even a single low-grade spirit stone could be worth three to five hundred coins. And not to mention this much gold coins was enough for a normal family to survive for months.
—
—
—
{Next Day}
After a good rest, Xu Yuan was ready to leave the village.
But some thoughts still weighed on his mind. His cultivation had dropped from the Eighth Layer all the way down to the First.
And then there was also Bai Chen. If that guy knew he was attacked by him, it could bring trouble.
Even though Xu Yuan had a mask, he wasn't completely sure if his identity had been exposed or not.
For now, the safest choice was to return to the Xu family. If he could improve his cultivation, then with enough courage, he could even try to return to the academy.
Xu Yuan decided to hire a carriage to Jin Yang City.
And soon, he found a carriage with a humble carriage driver, whose innocent smile was enough to tell that he is a man of righteous path.