Chapter 31: The Two Sons

Guo Huo was rather surprised that Jia Yuan had the mindset

to kowtow and pay respects to him. After all, it was in complete contrast with Jia Yuan’s normal behavior.

He felt rather gratified, and smiled at Jia Yuan like a father would smile at their son.

At this time, the village elder carefully made his way over

to Guo Huo and Jia Yuan, who were standing at the center of the village.

After stepping over the corpses of the Zhao family, he stood

in front of Guo Huo and Jia Yuan.

The village elder said to the both of them, “Thank you for

ridding the village of the Zhao family. The last few months, they have truly

been too audacious. Last month, we were even unable to pay the Kingdom’s taxes

and were punished with an even higher tax rate this month.”

“Now, we can finally all live in peace again. For that, I

thank the two of you.”

Guo Huo quickly retracted his domineering and adopted the

pose of a respectable nobleman.

“No problem at all, village elder. It was Jia Yuan here who

notified me of the wrongdoings of the Zhao family. I was simply acting for the

good of the Fire Kingdom. We cannot have such lawbreaking families in the

Kingdom if we want to stay as strong as the other Kingdoms.”

“As for the possessions of the Zhao family, I would like to

return them to the village, as you were probably the rightful owners of them in

the first place.”

Jia Yuan glanced at Guo Huo with appreciation in his

eyes.

The village elder bowed towards Guo Huo. Acquiring the

possessions of the Zhao family had been his true goal all along, which was why

he had mentioned the higher tax rate issued by the Fire Kingdom.

And of course, Guo Huo saw through the ruse instantly. But

what was a few thousand small fire shards to a man like Guo Huo?

He knew that Jia Yuan very much liked Fire Hill Village, so

he felt that it would be a good show of faith to help the villagers out. After

all, he still felt a little guilty about forcing Jia Yuan to such a state

earlier.

After seeing Guo Huo's sincere gesture, Jia Yuan ran over to the village elder.

“Hey, elder? Guess what? Guo Huo here set me free! I’m a

free man now, how about that? I’m even going to be his disciple!”

“Oh, really? Congratulations, Jia Yuan!”

At this time, Jia Yuan’s old master appeared at the village

center. He had been sitting in his shack, worrying about Jia Yuan.

He could hear the noises of battle, the violent clangs of

metal and loud ominous screams that signified many gruesome deaths.

But all the while, he didn’t come out of the shack. During the last few years, he had cared for the two boys he purchased, but he had distanced himself from

them. After all, they were just slaves that he had been raising to sell to the

Army.

But every time he saw them sparring, every time he saw them

doing chores together, every time they ate congee together…he felt a great pain

inside his heart.

After he had heard that the noises of fighting had stopped,

Jia Yuan’s old master stood up in the shack, and looked in the direction of the

village center with a wistful face.

He had slowly walked his way over to the village center he

had arrived just now. He slowly walked up to Guo Huo and Jia Yuan. Upon

reaching them, he gazed at Jia Yuan with a gaze that was half guilty, half

pleading.

“Jia Yuan, it’s time for you to go and experience the world.

However, as someone who had lived with you for the last few years, I would like

to ask you for a favor. Of course, you have no obligation to me, as our

relationship was that of master and slave… But I would still like to ask this

of you.”

“A long while ago, long before I bought you and Dou Di, I

was a nobleman of the Fire Kingdom. I had two sons who were highly adept at

Martial Cultivation. Although I am not a cultivator myself, I hired the best

teachers I could afford for them, I bought the best pills I could afford for

them. I spared nothing for my two sons.”

“But alas, about 20 years ago, they went to the front lines

as captains of the Burning Legion in the war against the Water Kingdom. Neither

of them made it back, as both of them were killed by a Water Kingdom General.”

“For this man, Guo Huo, to want you as his disciple, I

imagine that in the future you will become extremely powerful, more so than my

two sons. If possible, could you at that point take revenge for my two sons?”

Jia Yuan was heartbroken by this story. After all, he had

never known his parents, and the only one he truly viewed as family, his

brother, was still alive. However his feelings soon turned to an understanding

of why his master had been so listless as long as Jia Yuan had known him. The

old master didn’t do much at all besides cooking congee every day, only telling

Jia Yuan and Dou Di to do their chores. In fact, the only time he ever left the

vicinity of the shack was to buy rice from the village market.

Just how hard does one have to be hit with grief for them to

fall so heavily from nobility to a point where they could only afford congee

for sustenance?