Paths Of Life Volume 2 : Path of a Warrior Chapter 3 : A Favourable Misunderstanding Smoke from the bonfire was rising up into the dark sky. The advent of night brought with it cascading moonlight that fell down on the Ao tribe village. The purple moon, Zu and the white moon, Shi - their brilliant lights amalgamated into a serene and calm glow. The rather large bonfire was set up right in the middle of a group of huts. Now that the day was over, it was time to sit, relax and…. eat. Dozens of tribe members were gathered around the bonfire. Some were busy gossiping, some were trying to achieve romantic success, while some were focused on preparing dinner. But one thing remained common between them all - they were all subconsciously avoiding a particular hut. It was the biggest hut in the entire village. Despite being just as shabbily constructed as all the other ones, this one had just a hint of grandiose to it. Naturally, it was the Chief’s residence. But there was a disagreeable aura emanating from it. Occasionally, loud sounds of argument would find their way to the tribe members outside but they would hardly react, letting the sounds enter from one ear and exit from another. It was a regular occurrence, a sight all too common to the villagers. If someone summoned the courage or in fact the stupidity to push through the door of the hut, they would find palpable tension in the air. A long table, crafted from the same redwood that the forest around was filled with , was the one of the only pieces of furniture in sight. Sitting across from each around that table, were two men glaring at each other. On the left side was a seemingly young man no older than thirty. With a well developed body and muscles overflowing with power, in Zhang Gui’s previous life this man would definitely have been an excellent athlete. With the extravagant armour of leather around him , he looked to be a man of authority. Crossing his legs he said, “ Master Zhen, I don’t understand why you oppose me on this. As the Chief, I do not think it is a wise decision for the boy to stay. ” The words were spoken slowly and forcefully. His annoyance was evident. “ I am opposing you because I want to. The boy will stay.” , Master Zhen did not seem to hold the Chief sitting across from him in high regard. His body, barely covered in the sparse animal hide garments, was comparable to the Chief’s. Despite being quite a bit older than the Chief, he did not look any weaker. In fact, his bald head gave him a rather intimidating look. “The boy is a complete barbarian. He doesn't even know how to speak. Clearly he was abandoned by his tribe during infancy. Why must we bear the burden of some other tribe’s blood? Food is getting harder and harder to hunt as winter approaches. We can’t simply add another mouth to feed for no reason when we are going to struggle feeding our own.”, the Chief said it all in one breath clearly exasperated with Master Zhen’s stubbornness. But alas! what is once stubborn will always be stubborn. “Regardless of what you say or how fast you say it, the boy...will stay. He is a barbarian, you say? Aren’t we all? Maybe sending you to study in the city was not a good decision after all. As for the food, I can just give him a part of my share.” And with that he folded his arms in front of his chest as if to say ‘ this is the end of the debate’. The Chief on the other hand could only manage to show a helpless smile, “ A part of your share? If everyone finds out that you are eating less because of me, I’ll have to fear for my safety. I definitely don’t need you to give up on a part of your share. Even if the feeding issue is ignored, the fact remains that he is not one of ours. What’s the point of raising someone who does not carry the Ao bloodline?” Slamming his fists on the table Master Zhen declared, “Daquan, you are truly stupid. Have you not even taken a good look at the boy?” Turning his head towards a silent corner of the room, Chief Daquan once again examined the unwelcome guest of their tribe. In fact, there were two unwelcome guests - the brat that was still knocked out cold on the floor and the monkey who kept a vigilant eye over him. Daquan had wanted to slash apart the stupid monkey to alleviate his stress but since it was an exotic breed, selling it to some eccentric noble in the city would be much more profitable. “I am stupid?! What about that kid is worth looking at?” The boy definitely looked peculiar - his short stature, match stick like body were quite unlike the features of Ao tribesmen. He was even willing to bet that Ao women had better physique than this midget. It was truly a miracle for someone like him to survive in the wild for so many years but then again the scars covering every inch of his body were a testament to how those years were spent. Regardless the Chief would not see a single remarkable thing that may have missed the first time. “ You dolt! Look at his right hand. Do you see those rosary beads? From the texture and feel, I can already tell that they are quite high in quality and these type of sand coloured rosary beads are only given out by the Church to noble families with great contributions.” “I reckon this brat carries within him a noble bloodline. He was abandoned probably because he is a bastard or something like that but how does that matter to us. For us, even a dilute noble bloodline is too good to be true. Just think about it Daquan, this is the chance to propel our tribe to new heights. Nevermind his individual potential, if he simply marries into our tribe - it will definitely be worth it to feed the extra mouth.” “And don’t worry about finding a family to take care of him. He will live with me , I’ll make sure to unearth his potential.” Humans have always been wonderful creatures. The humans inhabiting the Ao village were objectively even more wondrous.A misunderstanding of this magnitude would generally be beyond the reach of a normal human but for the mental gymnastics employed by the Ao Tribe , any and all possibilities were a mere misunderstanding away from reality. Master Zhen, in particular, had truly refined his mental gymnastics skills to perfection. It was said that he had once convinced an enemy to surrender by simply convincing him that losing would somehow bring him more benefits than winning. That enemy was later executed. How did he convince the enemy to surrender? What did he say to him? - these questions had plagued the gossiping circles of the village for a while. Chief Daquan as a true member of the Ao tribe was naturally not immune to the charms of mental gymnastics. Every sentence that entered his ear, changed his facial expression. From annoyance to doubt to jubilation. No one from the Ao Tribe would ever believe that their Chief was so easily swayed by words but if someone were to tell them that this was the result of Master Zhen’s mental gymnastics, they would only shake their head with sympathy for the Chief. “Well then Uncle Zhen, it's a deal!”, he said with a sly smile on his face. And thus Zhang Gui found in Ao Tribe a new home. It might have been a result of some spectacular mental gymnastics but for Zhang Gui , it was simply a favorable misunderstanding. …………………………

The heat from the bonfire could not stop him from shivering. Ao Longwei was sitting outside the Chief’s house with trepidation in his heart. He had returned to the village with a triumphant smile on his face and the boy on his back. But it all went downhill from there. The praise he had anticipated receiving never came. Instead, the Chief had lashed out at him for bringing a ‘dead weight’ boy to the village. He was even banished from joining the hunting party because in the Chief’s words, “ Bringing back a human instead of the animals you were asked to bring shows your foolishness and most importantly, your incompetence.” Things only got worse when Master Zhen decided to insert himself into the situation. Seeing that he was being opposed to only served to irritate the Chief further. He did not even consider the exotic monkey and the rabbit Ao Longwei had caught. “Ao Longwei, you will wait out here till me and Master Zhen sort out our disagreement.” With that command, the doors to the Chief’s residence were closed off to him. None of the villagers dared to loiter around that hut when the Chief and Master Zhen were locked inside lest they become an outlet for their anger. It was a regular occurrence for the two of them to be in disagreement. One of them would inevitably lose the argument and then the first person they found after exiting the hut would become their victim. The Chief would generally assign his victim some kind of unpleasant task like collecting human and animal faeces to make fertilizers but only after he had given the victim a stern lecture of some kind. But Master Zhen was worse. He would drag the victim to a wrestling match that they would inevitably lose. Rather than calling it a match, it would be better to call it ‘ Master Zhen versus punching bag’. The victim would generally be left with excruciating pain and sore muscles for weeks. The two beasts would always radiate beautiful smiles as soon as they were done with the poor victim. Behind closed doors, the villagers were often heard calling the duo - the Sadistic Elders. But despite knowing all that Ao Longwei was forced to wait outside the hut, wondering which of the two elders would be taking their anger out on him. Just as he was how his mother was doing back in their hut, the door he had been staring at burst open and out came ….Master Zhen. “As always my luck is the worst. Life is so unfair. Mother! Save me please~! ” “Uh...Master Z-Zhen, actually I have not been feeling that great these days so I won’t be able to offer much of a challenge to you. That Ao Yan is always so full of energy, he never stops bullying me, he would be an ideal candidate to be your sparring partner.” Longwei's sorry excuse had no visible effect as he was dragged off by Ao Zhen. Unexpectedly, he was dragged off into the Chief’s residence and not towards the wrestling ring. Before he could process what was happening he saw the Chief walking towards him with a smile on his face. It was the same kind of smile Ao Longwei had shown to Zhang Gui earlier in the day. Needless to say, it was disturbingly creepy and Longwei was finally made aware of this fact. However despite the smile, Chief Daquan seemed to be in a merry mood. Embracing Longwei in a rather awkward hug he said, “ Longwei, you have done a great merit to this village by saving this young man. We must always strive to help those in need. You are exempted from doing chores till the first snowfall.” “And naturally, consider your suspension from the hunting party null and void. You just have to hunt ten prey like everyone else before fall begins.” “Oh and of course you will get extra points for the exotic monkey and the boy. Adding that rabbit you brought in and your previous three submissions, you are at a total of nine already. Just catch one more animal and I will let you join the hunting party.” Longwei was in a state of belief. The more he heard the greater his surprise became. By the end of it, he was half suspecting this to be a dream. In his entire life, he had never seen the Chief this happy. Master Zhen on the other hand seemed happy as well. How was this possible? Did none of them lose the argument? He did not know what events had transpired for the situation to lead to this result but there was one thing he had complete faith in : his awful luck. Therefore for something this good to happen to him, there must be someone else’s fortune at work here. And with that thought his eyes fell down on Zhang Gui. “Elders, I think I have found my lucky star.” , he said eyeing Zhang Gui. “We agree.” In that moment, all the three Ao tribe members were sporting the same ghoulish smile. As luck would have it, while Zhang Gui was knocked out cold and hence unaware of this disturbing scene before, there was one neglected terrified monkey next to him who witnessed this scene in its full glory. For years to come, Bo would shudder whenever he would think of this day.