At dawn Feng opened his eyes.

Storm was lazily feeding her pups and closely watching the area with piercing eyes.

"Bark.... Grrr.... Whine.... Woof...."

The quad felt Feng being awake and their reactions were like always, different from one another.

"Morning to you too guys, let's see.... Scrambled eggs it is then."

Feng ignored the pups and rubbed his stomach with his hand as he rummaged inside his sack then decided to make eggs for breakfast.

Storm felt like her pups had enough of her milk and got up to seek Feng's favor, she liked to nudge him with her head and the young man smiled at her behavior then started to hug her with one arm and massage her fur as he made fire.

Since he's without any utensils or kitchenware right now, Feng resourcefully used a flat stone after washing it's surface with some water.

Now he have a stone-pan to make the eggs and he made extra for Storm and her pups to eat with him, Shadow was peacefully eating from the grass around his feet and the water was nearby if he wanted to drink he would just go down the hill.

As Feng watched the Sun rise and scatter it's light on the stretch of green from his elevated position, he took a deep breath and turned his head to look at the village north of where he camped the previous night.

"Storm, this chicken is yours to eat if you're hungry while I'm away, watch over my things and don't go wandering around, I'll take Shadow and go over there for a while to do something then I'll return as fast as I can, stay here, and don't follow me."

Feng got on a single knee in front of Storm and cupped her jaws, only the soft helmet hid his smile when he spoke to the only adult of the wolf family.

The man was still scared of taking it off in the presence of this wolf, yet he saw her lowered ears which should be a sign of her displeasure.

"Come on, I'll try to bring you some delicious meat if something remained of my 7 coins. Stay here, sit!"

Feng jumped on Shadow's back and raised his tune slightly when he saw hints of Storm wanting to follow after him.

"Whine.... Whine...."

Scratching the ground once with her forelimb, Storm turned to sit next to the chickens and licked her pups.

But her eyes never left Feng as he descended the hill on top of Shadow, the silhouette of the man in green robes on top of the black horse as he removed the black thing from his head and let the air mess up his medium-sized black hair was the last thing she saw before he took a turn and disappeared.

"Finally I get to breathe normally, even though Storm seems to be a lot more like an obedient dog I can't risk it."

Feng arranged his hair and hid his soft helmet inside his top as he said while taking a long breath of fresh air, the robe Lili gave him was quite a good fit.

Not to mention the pill that made his wounds completely heal in two days, even the second degree burns on his right arm were completely healed up today.

Now he left Storm to guard his stuff and only took the oddly heavy metal-bars despite their small size, the stinger and his seven bronze coins with him as he went to take a look at this small village.

He planned to look for a blacksmith to make a sword for himself, if his money isn't enough then he can start working as an apprentice for a while then make his sword with his own hands after learning the profession.

He already has an idea about how things work in a smithy.

As he watched the twenty-five meters tall and grey in color walls of the village come closer as Shadow trotted at a leisurely pace, Feng noticed that the village gates had almost nobody entering and a lot of horse or ox carts coming out loaded with hay, empty milk barrels, people or dairy products.

No guards! Nobody manning the walls, Nothing?

On top of the five meter tall and ten meter wide gates there was a rusty metal sign.

Sword village.

'More like, nobody cares village.' Feng thought as he patted Shadow's neck to go ahead and enter.

After entering the village through the seven meters long tunnel Feng saw Sword village from inside.

It resembled a large space in the shape of the letter "V" with the tall rocky terrain surrounding the village from both sides meeting at the center point at the end of Feng's sight once he entered.

He found most of the buildings in this village being one story tall and small in size only the large manor at the narrowest part of sword village seemed to be occupying considerable amount of space.

That manor was built on an elevated part of the rocky area, it was built with yellowish stones and had a set of high walls surrounding it.

"Whoever lives there can take a single look and see everything inside this village."

Feng had enough looking at sword village simply because it had nothing much to it for him to look at! He intercepted an old man riding an ox cart and heading outside the village for some reason.

"Good day to you sir, I'm looking for a blacksmith. Is there anybody with this profession in sword village?"

Before the man said anything, Feng cupped his fist and asked.

"Eh! Aha... Hahahaha, didn't hear that name in a long time now. Go in through this street until you find madam Cho's tavern to the right, it is hard to miss the sign believe me, inside ask for old man one hand he's the only blacksmith in here. Bffft.... Sword village, you just made my day young man."

The old man with a white long beard and shappy clothes was terribly amused by what Feng called the village and left the gates snickering from time to time.

"Is it me or is it really just weird in here? Don't you think so too Shadow? Let's go see that man one handed or whatever."

Feng patted Shadow's neck and expertly made him head for the tavern mentioned by the bearded old man, of course expertly her means that he let Shadow go autopilot mode.

As he rode inside the village he noticed the lack of bustling vibe, that vibe he noticed inside Rock city earlier and it results from trade and the liveliness it brings when businesses thrive.

Here it was houses, courtyards and people creating dairy products or processing seeds, packaging fruits and vegetables, eggs, handling wool, creating clothes from fabrics that doesn't look expensive, carpets, processing leather belts for footwear and clothes.

Despite all these things being created in the village it looked like a big factory to Feng's eyes.

The people looked tired and weary, the kids looked slim and fatigued as they joined their families in working their crafts.

Finally Feng saw the sign of the tavern and like the bearded man said, it was hard to miss.

One large wooden barrel was given iron handle to resemble a huge wooden beer pint and hanging from a wooden beam by two huge iron chains outside the tavern door.

Getting down from Shadow's back and tying his reins Feng pushed the door open, inside he was greeted with a couple dozen pairs of eyes curiously staring him up and down.

Behind the par was a somewhat short old woman with her hair in a single bun on top of her head.

Feng ignored the eyes of the drunkards and approached the woman, this must be madam Cho and this crowd must've been drinking since yesterday.

Look at these expressions, only one or two are not intoxicated to the degree of walking circles when told to walk straight.

"Hello, is there someone with the name old man one hand amongst your customers?"

Feng stood in front of the woman cleaning the glasses and wiping the par then asked.

Once the woman heard Feng's inquiry she raised her head up from what she's doing to look at him, her creasing face raised an eyebrow and a smile that wasn't a smile appeared on it.

"What do you like to drink?"

She said in a professional tune while maintaining her kind expression with a welcoming voice.

Without waiting for Feng to answer she offered him a beer and her hands continued to clean.

"How much do I owe you?"

Feng got the message and had no intention of drinking the beer but giving it to the old man one hand isn't a bad idea.

"Five coins."

Nodding once madam Cho answered, she liked smart people.

Feng gave her one bronze coin and waited for his change.

"Y.... you're a new face...."

A drunkard stood next to Feng on two shaky legs and started poking his cheek with a drooling expressions as he spoke with two unfocused eyes staring beind Feng!

"Get away from my customer."

When madam Cho noticed the frown on Feng's face she slapped the man on the head with the piece of cloth she uses to wipe the cups.

"A... alright."

The drunkard sat back down and struggled to raise his cup correctly to his mouth!

"Don't mind them, they're harmless. Here's your money, you'll find old Da over there. Just go through that door in the back."

Handing out the rest of the money to Feng, madam Cho pointed at a door behind her and told Feng to go.

"Thanks madam Cho, sorry for troubling you. Here, have a drink on me."

Feng left a tip for the woman and pushed the door to find this old Da.

After following a somewhat dim corridor he reached an open space in the backyard, he saw eight elderlies sitting at a table playing cards, obviously gambling.

One of them stood out from the group because he lacked a left arm, but his right arm was almost three times the size of the arm of the man sitting next to him!

He was old in his late forties possibly in his fifties, wide back and thick neck, very developed chest muscles and a long beard.

His hair short and pointed out like nails, sharp eyes watching the table and keeping an emotionless and wooden face.

When Feng appeared the gamblers stopped talking and looked at him strangely.

Madam Cho regularly will stop others from interrupting their game, yet here a young man suddenly appears!

"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your fun, I'm here looking for old Da."

Feng saw a couple of people frowning and he guessed that they're the losers amongst the group in this game.

As expected when he spoke the seven men turned to look at the strong looking man.

"What do you want?"

Since he's a stranger old Da didn't waste time and asked for the reasons behind this sudden visit.

"To make a sword, I have some materials with me and I wanted to know how much it will cost or if I need to gather more ores or better ones to make my sword."

Feng offered the beer in his hand to the man and told him his reasons for a sudden visit.

Old Da sipped on the beer and played his final card without answering Feng, once the others revealed their cards he was surprised to find that he was the biggest winner of this round.

"Haha I win this time, this makes me not a winner or a loser for the night. I'll return tonight to clean your pockets for sure, ya all better come prepared with extra money."

Old Da collected his win and stuffed it in his pocket then got up to leave under the tired eyes of his friends, every day they play from night until someone wins.

Today it has been a deadlock with no winner and it turned to be just a big a waste of time.

"Sigh, I'm leaving too. But tonight for sure I'll watch your frowning faces as I stuff my pockets with your money."

"You wish, old Ba your record is just a couple wins in a month, scram."

"Come young man, let's go."

Clapping Feng once on the shoulder, old Da walked ahead with a smile on his face.

But, he noticed that the young man didn't budge from where he stood when he hit him.

Usually people would stagger at least when he does that!

However, he was happy anyway, he felt like his last win was because of that beer offered by the young man at the last moment.

Feng felt a sting on his left shoulder and knew that if it wasn't for the soft armor on his body underneath the green robe, then he would've been thrown three or four meters by that gentle and friendly gesture from the blacksmith.

"Old Da, normally what's the cost for making a sword suitable for my physique?"

Feng asked as they exited the tavern, he untied Shadow's reins and walked next to the tall man.

Feng wasn't short himself, he was over one meter seventy-five centimeters tall.

But old Da was a giant with a height of almost two meters.

After giving Feng a few measuring looks, old Da scratched his chin for a few seconds to do some mental calculations.

"If you're taking care of the materials then my pay will be ten silver coins."

Finally old Da said his price.

"Ten Silvers huh! Sigh, then I'm sorry to tell you that I don't have enough money yet. Consider this visit me taking your opinion before creating the sword in the future, is that alright with you?"

Feng shook his head and shrugged at the simple fact that destroyed his hopes.

"No problem, that's my smithy over there."

Old Da didn't mind since he was going home anyway, might as well give this strong young man his advice.

Da Donghai always admired the strong be that young or old, since he took his love-packed shoulder-clap and kept steady feet while not wincing in pain then he's a youth with promising strength.

"Come in."

After opening a simple door, old Da entered a courtyard with two small buildings and a shabby garden in front.

The building in the right was clearly the smithy because many iron tools were in front, the left building was old Da's house and living quarters.

Feng left Shadow clean this garden from the excess grass and took the metal ores and stinger from the sack at his side to show them to old Da.

The one handed man went inside his house and sat down to relax as Feng was getting his items.

"Hrmm...."

When he saw the materials Feng started taking out from that strange black and purple sack, old Da sat straight as he noticed the fine quality these metal-bars and how rare was it to gather or find them in the market.

That purple hook in the young man's hands gave old Da a dangerous feeling.

"These are all the metals I have and this stinger I collected from a demonic beast, are these enough to create a suitable sword for me? Can that stinger be included in the creation? If it will ruin the quality of my sword then tell me. I tried to break it before and felt like the stinger was strong like metal already that's why I had the idea of including it in the making."

Feng placed them all on the small table for the blacksmith to take a look then pointed out the stinger specifically.

"This....are you planning on adding all these to the mix?"

Old Da stared strangely at Feng then asked again, he didn't say anything about the stinger and didn't touch it.

"Are they not enough? Then what else am I lacking. Make me a list and I'll try to gather them."

Feng frowned slightly then asked.

"No they're enough, I already have the right wood for the handle and sheath. It's just that the cost will be ten times what I said before, these metals are very hard to forge and that stinger will need a lot of heat and work to melt and shape it."

"One gold coin will be my fees, adding that stinger to the sword is mainly what makes it more expensive to forge your sword, but, it will make it deadlier and sturdier if it was added to the mix."

Old Da gave dirt poor Feng another doze of bad news,

"Huh! They're that extreme?"

Feng believed the thing about the stinger and he was actually worried for the blacksmith being unable to work on in, even Liling had to upgrade her fireball into the blue version to melt the shards.

This stinger is a lot harder than the shards, he hit it for hours to break it and it didn't even crack like the parts from the shell.

Now it seems like Feng is missing nine thousand nine hundred and ninty-four bronze coins to get his sword.

"I said the cost of my fees, the wood required for the handle and sheath will be on the house."

Old Da said as he held the ores in his palm to give them another close look one by one.

Feng's face blushed in embarrassment, now he was given charity? Forget it, he can't afford to make it now anyway.

"Thanks old Da, then are you looking for someone to work for you?"

Feng asked and the one handed man was surprised by the sudden question, he looked closely at Feng's face trying to understand what is going through his head.

"I don't."

Finally he looked outside at the garden and his smithy, then he sighed at their shape and how little his business is getting these days.

All the orders are simple and uncreative, a horseshoe, cart wheel, broken chains.

An apprentice blacksmith can run this place, yet Da Donghai a grandmaster blacksmith and forger is stuck in this village

Ever since that incident with his master and Da Donghai's arm loss, this place turned from Sword Villa into sword village.

He didn't want some foreigner to be smeared with the shame, especially since it all happened when Da Donghai was around the same age of this young man's.

"I see.... Thank you old Da, I'll return when I have the money."

Feng nodded once and cupped his hands to the blacksmith who seemed to be in a daze suddenly.

He collected his ores and gave the elderly a slight bow then took Shadow and left the courtyard.

"Auntie, can you tell me where can I buy some meat?"

Feng didn't get sad because old Da refused to hire him and decided to buy some meat for Storm and the pups.

"Over there, old Ma sells some fresh meat everyday. He even sends the rest to Rock city."

The lady carelessly guided Feng then continued to knit the wool.

Spending eighty iron coins Feng bought triple the amount of meat he bought previously in Rock city!

"Was I scammed back then? No auntie Qing assured me that time. Is it because of the farms nearby? Or is it that the city's rent is raising the prices there?"

Feng held the large amount of meat and placed it in the sack as he muttered inaudibly to himself.

"Let's go back Shadow."

Riding outside the village Feng took a roundabout way back to Storm, he was just being careful that's all.

-----

Another time after Liling left Feng and returned to Rock city.

"Lili finally decided to return, so, how did you like the new friend that I made yesterday."

Qing Qiuyue smiled when she saw her niece return late at night.

"Hehe he's alright."

Liling sat next to her aunt and rested her back, she stared at the starry night and said as she recollected today's events.

She smiled as she remembered how much fun she had beating Feng up, even though she was in the wrong she didn't regret doing it.

"Ara... Lili is smiling so cutely, what? Did you do naughty things with little Feng? Tell me, did he steal your first kiss?"

Qing Qiuyue smiled mischievously as she gave small Lili some peeled fruits.

"Humph, he dares! I would've beaten him up and broke both of his legs."

Fiercely Lili glared as she used her pearly white teeth to chop the fruits.

"Such a strange girl, keep at it and you'll be alone someday just like your aunt with no man to warm your nights."

Lili's aunt had a sad look on her face as she spoke.

"Don't be sad aunty, it is his loss for being scared to face you."

Liling placed the fruit plate back on the table and patted her aunt's hand soothingly.

"What do you know? Little girl if you dare speak badly about my prince charming I'll spank you. I bet it feels good to spank a cultivator's butt, especially if she's as cute as you."

Qing Qiuyue was unlike how Feng saw her at all when she deals with her niece.

"Ehehehe so fierce, alright I won't bad-mouth your man anymore. You make sure to rest well aunty, I'll go meditate."

Liling hugged her kind aunt one last time before leaving for her room, she was actually quite exhausted from overdrawing her Qi force in the previous experiment with Feng.

Using her fire techniques non-stop for hours was exhausting, if it wasn't for the pendant her master gave when she successfully made her last breakthrough then Liling would've been devoid of all energy long ago.

That pendant gave Lili twenty percent more Qi Force than normal.

But the reason for her breakthrough was mainly related to that fortuitous encounter in beast mountains, the green robe she gifted Feng, the Spirit Jade containing her cultivation technique "Ethereal Edge" and the chest full of high-grade Spirit Stones.

She kept the Sword cultivation technique for herself and is currently using it, the same goes for the spirit stones in her space ring which she relies on them to advance faster compared to her peers in the sect.

Only the robe was unsuitable for a woman.

Finding Feng without clothes Lili Decided to give it to him.

It seemed like the right thing to do!

-----

"Woof....."

After Feng returned he got tackled by Storm and she started to lick his face after pinning him down to the ground.

'Shit, Shit, Shit I forgot to wear the soft helmet' Feng was sweating bullets from his forehead when he felt storm's sticky tongue and saliva wetting his face.

"Aha... Ahaha... Aha.... That's enough girl, you're a good girl. Look! I brought lots and lots of meat. Ya, all yours. As long as you love me."

Feng was laughing awkwardly as he brought the meat from the sack with shaking fingers, once Storm was distracted with the meat he took the soft helmet out and wore it on fast as lightning.

'That was close' while sighing inwardly Feng thought that as he slapped Shadow's butt to reprimand him for not reminding him about the soft helmet.

"Neigh....."

Protesting for the sudden hit, Shadow neighed loudly and glared at Feng while making sure to move his ass away from Feng's arms.

"Remind me to wear my helmet or I won't buy you any fruits the next time we go out."

Feng threatened Shadow shamelessly, he already bought the horse a basket full of apples for one iron coin and now he is threatening the horse of taking it away from the "to do list"

Shadow rolled his eyes at the stupid human and continued to raze his grass while making sure to keep the bully under his surveillance with the dangerous creature, one already gave him the threat of eating him if something happened to her young ones and the other threatened him with taking his treats away!

'You just fear the strong and bully the weak, you humans are all the same' Shadow was thinking such thing as he crushed the apples in his mouth.

As he sat there under the scorching sun unaffected at all because of his attire made from the ZhuQing Material, Feng was thinking about his current predicament of money.

All he have is six bronze coins.

If he wants old Da to make him the sword then it will be hard to collect the money.

According to auntie Qing he'll need to work for a hundred months as an apprentice in a smithy in Rock city, that is if he lived these months without having to pay for his food, clothing, and rent. Somehow!

"Do I really have no other way to get myself a sword right now?"

Feng thought as he crossed his arms.

He could get an ordinary sword but it won't be something good or a long-term protection measure, these break easily and become ruined after getting roughed slightly.

"Whine...."

Storm didn't eat her fill and sadly nudged Feng's shoulder with her head as she lowered her ears.

"Eh! Why didn't you finish your food? Eat up."

Feng was pulled out from his deep thinking by Storm's whining.

"Whimper...."

Storm lay on her back with her neck and head on his lap and acted spoilt.

Then she gently scratched at his soft helmet with her paws.

"Huh! You want me to remove this?"

Feng asked as he began to remove it slowly with a beating heart.

"Woof...."

Storm got up excitedly and continued eating her food.

Feng was surprised by the sudden change of attitude, Storm was wagging her tail and wolfing the meat like a well-trained pet.

Then he smiled and lowered back the soft helmet to cover his head.

"Whimper....."

Storm stopped eating and went back to lay on Feng's lap, she scratched at the helmet and acted spoilt again.

"I'll remove it, now go eat. You're a mother of four ya idiot, taking care of them is more important than gaining my favor."

Feng felt touched by this primal gesture from an animal and rubbed her neck and scratched her lower jaw while saying his scolding in a soft tune.

After Storm got back to eating and Feng returned to his deep thinking, he got distracted again by the small pup Night who kept biting his sleeve and wrestling with it.

Then little Joy jumped on his lap and started to climb his arm diligently.

Thunder was announcing his inability of biting his own tail while struggling with the dizziness that followed the endless repetition of going in a circle.

Only Harmony was sitting still at his thigh and leaning his head on Feng's belly.

"Who could think in this situation."

Feng said with a small sigh.

After Storm finished eating, Feng gathered his things on Shadow's back and secured the pups in their comfortable spot then headed further north after giving Storm and Shadow some water.

He was aimless and decided to head north beyond sword village.

"Woof.... Woof..."

After an hour of slow paced riding northwards as Feng was spacing out trying to figure out a way to earn loads of money to forge his sword, Storm made loud noise to grab Feng's attention.

Once he turned to look east towards Storm's direction, he saw over a hundred riders coming from the northeast direction.

Wearing full sets of silver armor and all of their horses were draped in armor and looked superior to Feng's mount Shadow, obviously mature warhorses and of a high quality among warhorses.

"Why is it him again?"

At their front was the same man who ordered for Feng to be whipped over a week ago, general Lian with his hooked nose and piercing gaze.

"Eh!..."

The same time Feng noticed the identity of the general Lian, the general seemed to have been identified him in return.

'Gotta bounce' Feng directed Shadow to go slightly faster in order to clear the path for the general and his men, all the while he tried to hide his face to avoid this ruthless man.

"Halt For this general."

Unfortunately the general didn't let it pass and called loudly for Feng to stop, once his men heard the sudden shout from their leader they started to widen their column formation and began their organized flanking of the lone rider.

Despite their surprise for the general's call to stop this green robed man who seemed like a merchant or some kind of a birds dealer, the only strange thing about this person was the mature wolf running next to his black horse.

"Grrrrr......"

"Storm don't provoke them, sit down!"

Feng noticed that he wouldn't be able to leave without facing the music when he heard that call from the general, sighing, he stopped and dismounted then tried to calm Storm who started to become nervous for her family by patting her head and massaging her neck fur.

"General Lian we meet again, did I do something wrong or break any kind of law for you to order me to stop?"

Feng didn't show any kind of expression on his face and cupped his fist as he spoke to the general while ignoring the silver armored men who completed the circle and surrounded him in a double layer, they waited for their general's next orders curiously and most of them who were with the general that day didn't even remember Feng's face.

Those who didn't remember Feng from the earlier incident looked at their general Lian and waited for him to speak, that way they can learn the identity of this strange person but some of their colleagues who remembered the face of Feng and recognized his identity started telling their brothers-in-arms about their previous encounter with this coward a few days ago.

They just returned from executing the last deserter of battalion leader Zi's third battalion and Zhu Feng's brothers-in-arms, general Lian was infuriated at these army deserters and chased them to the last one with them and supervised their punishment personally.

During the way back he kept frowning and they knew that once he returns to the main garrisons situated in Rock city he'll show the army soldiers and their commanding officers just how unhappy he was with the state this western army has degraded to.

"You're that soldier from back then, right?"

It seems like even the general was a little sceptical about Feng's identity even though he was eighty percent sure because of the almost exact resemblance in looks, the addition of the mature wolf next to the man and his earlier cowardly look plus his malnourished sight were how can he describe it? Different!

Now he seemed healthy and brimming with youth!

He even didn't seem to hold a grudge against the general for ordering him to be whipped a hundred times, his eyes clear as they looked at him and his back straight as he spoke without fear despite him currently being completely surrounded!

He even stood in close contact with a mature wolf without any fear or unease in his pose, the man from before was a coward. Obviously! Even a blind person could sense it from miles away.

This one however, seemed deep and hidden to general Lian's sharp eyes.

As he stood there in his long green robe and his hands and legs covered in the same kind of black material that has some purple dots on it along with the gloves and footwear, the man seemed somewhat.... How should he describe it?.....

Dangerous!

"No longer at your service general, is there anything you want from this civilian? All I own right now is these birds and six bronze coins plus some change. If my Shi kingdom is in need I won't hesitate to donate them away."

Feng's words were hiding daggers behind them, poisonous daggers!

"Impudent..... Shiiii....."

"Stop...."

Once Feng spoke a man next to general Lian experienced a severe face darkening and shouted as he unsheathed his blade and was about to dismount, he had full intentions of beheading this coward who dares to speak to his honorable general in this impolite way.

General Lian however, stopped his subordinate with a smile on his face.

He smiled because that answer assured him of the identity of the person in front of him, he was the same person.

The joke about giving away his worthless belongings to the kingdom was the young man's way of throwing up a tantrum of unwillingness, youth should always be this energetic and defiant, even the general back in the days of his youth had many clashes with his superiors.

"Your loyalty to the kingdom is more than sufficient, tell me your name O' honorable civilian of my Shi kingdom?"

"Zhu Feng."

"Are you taking these birds to sell in Obsidian city at the borders with Hai kingdom north of here?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Haven't decided yet, I seem to have all the time in the world these days."

"En, good choice. That place is a war zone since both the Hai and Yan kingdoms are currently butting heads, the prices of anything in there went almost to double sometimes even more. You'll certainly earn some good money if you sell these birds in there. Tell me, I'm curious about what happened after my orders were administered?"

"Hoooh, nothing actually. I woke up next to a giant barbeque of men and beast, surrounded by more than a hundred hungry of her kind. After a night of horror I managed to keep my life somehow plus this one for myself, ah! Me and my bad memory. Of course I found some water and rations next to me when I woke up, these kind people left me fourty-five bronze coins and some sips of wine. What a good thing to enjoy before you get torn to shreds by starving wolves? Food, riches, and liquor. What a nice people they were very generous indeed, even now I'm still debating whether or not it was heaven at that time and the only flaw in the scene is that it was missing a naked woman next to these precious gifts."

Feng gave general Lian a quick answer to his questions with a wooden face, but when he was asked about his first night Feng got a bit emotional.

He changed very much that night, even though he felt like everything happened too fast at that time, it wasn't!

One single miss-step and he would've really died, of course he doesn't know about the existence of the monster repellent powder and the small measure some kind soldiers took to protect him.

When general Lian heard Feng's words his face darkened, he only gave the orders for flogging him and stripping his rank then dismissing him from duty.

The reasonable action afterwards is to take him back to Rock city and leave him there, after all he's not like his brothers in arms a "deserter" he only got scared which is normal to happen within young, fresh and inexperienced recruits.

Feng's outlook is a young man less than sixteen and he was wearing the attire of a footsoldier, he got cold feet and he got punished for it!

Why did they leave him alone in that dangerous place nearby beast mountains?

"The general was already planning on showing these guys in the barracks hell, now they'll be seeing a deeper level of hell."

One of the advisors said to the nearby vice-generals when he saw the look on the general's face.

This little coward really gave the general a thorough and extremely polite stab with his words, general Lian could be scolded and humiliated without being affected at all, even if he lost a few battles consecutively he can take it in stride.

His nickname amongst the nobles in the capital is the shameless general because of that characteristic of his, but, his reverse scale has always been his men, underlings and subordinates.

Whenever he finds out anything about the men under his command, general Lian takes it as a stain in his reputation which is for him something... Unacceptable!

"I see.... This general asks for your forgiveness young master Feng I've wronged you, I promise to investigate this matter thoroughly when I return."

General Lian dismounted from his warhorse and bowed to Feng as he apologized for his men's wrongdoings, the silver armored guards accompanying him were shocked by this sudden action of their stubborn general Lian.

While the advisor wasn't that shocked, instead he kept looking at Feng as if he just found the most interesting toy after weeks of boredom.

"That has got nothing to do with me general, if that's all then I'll have to say goodbye. I still have a long journey to cross if I'm going to Obsidian city."

Feng smiled slightly and cupped his hands in return as he spoke, he was partly satisfied with the general's behavior.

"Of course, I noticed that young master Feng travels alone. This animal is ferocious enough to help against individuals, but an expert knows how to dispose of it with minimum harm taken. Since I've noticed that you carry no weapon to protect yourself, please accept this sword as my token of apology."

General Lian moved closer to Feng as he spoke and unstrapped a sword in a white ivory sheath with patterns of green-gold flowers on the scabbard from his waist and offered it to Feng on top of two open hands and fully extended arms.

Now the guards, deputies, vice-generals and military advisors in the special unit under general Lian's were staring with shock-filled eyes at him as he willingly offered his most precious item to this young man.

That sword wasn't the general's own sword, the sword general Lian uses is the one at his right side and it's handle is inlaid with gold, gems and precious stones.

He was handed this sword from the king himself when he got promoted to general.

But this sword in the white sheath belonged once to his eldest son who died five years ago, and the general refused to hand it to any of his children since the soldier who retrieved it from that battlefield returned it to him.

Even his beloved grandchildren were denied the sword, "you're not from the same breed" he said to all those who asked for the sword.

His eldest son was a lot like the general in his wild days, and sadly none of the other children or grandchildren matched the same character.

"Brave men don't hesitate."

When he saw Feng standing without accepting or refusing and studying his men's faces, general Lian distracted him with a harmless provocation.

"Grrr...."

"Bark... Bark.... Yelp..."

Storm growled at the general when he provoked Feng and Thunder seemed to awaken from his nap, he started his alarm of loud barking and the other pups had to wake up.

"Eh!...."

General Lian was shocked to discover the younger version of a wolf sound coming from the large sack on the horse's side that was made from a dark material that resembled Feng's inner attire, gloves and shoes.

"Easy girl, they're safe."

Feng took the sword from the general in his distraction by the pups and pulled Storm back towards Shadow as he calmed her.

"Thanks general for your generous gift, I'll make sure to repay you this generosity in the future for sure. Until we meet again."

Not wasting any time Feng jumped on top of Shadow's back and waved to the general, the men in silver armor parted for Feng and allowed him to leave their encirclement.

If they dared to stop someone whom the general just gave his son's sword then they'll be idiots amongst idiots.

"Hahaha interesting young man, let's go see these bunch of rotten apples. They dare tarnish my reputation, humph. I wouldn't be Lian Laoci if three days passed while this matter remain being not fully wrapped up."

General Lian Laoci returned to his horse with a wide smile on his face and spoke as he showed his teeth happily while watching Feng head north, but if captain Li or his men heard these words they'll certainly shake in their boots.

"It's good to see the general in good mood, to find a worthy person of young master Tu's sword. General must drink three cups of wine with this Jian tonight."

Advisor Jian Jianjun cupped his fist to congratulate his best friend and general Lian as they started to head west.

"En, Jianjun what do you see in this Feng? He changed in the span of few days from a trembling coward into a youngster with a ramrod back and a fearless attitude. What can change a person to this extreme that fast? If half of my men experienced such a change then I'll charge east ahead of them right now to push back these white dogs from Bai empire instead of sitting here to guard the west of my Shi kingdom."

Lian Laoci unexpectedly agreed to drink tonight despite being famous for not drinking ever except for when he's in vacations and enjoying the company of his family.

"We just returned from the eastern borders after more than twenty years of fighting them and now you want us to return! Give us a break."

One of the vice-generals paled in the face and couldn't help but interject.

"Snort, they killed my son."

Like a grumpy old man, the general stretched his lips in discontent and said after clicking his tongue.

"But we killed a whole lot of their sons in return to avenge master Tu."

Another deputy said with a proud smile.

"Hell yeah, their jewel corps the white legion was torn to pieces when we played with them like advisor Jian instructed. Only a few thousands managed to escape the net that time."

Some guard raised his head as he spoke, he remembered how many of the Bai empire's men he killed in that last fight on the eastern borders.

"Alright, you all did good in that battle. Now quiet down and let Jianjun speak."

The general smiled widely as he remembered how he delivered that nasty blow to Bai empire four months ago to pay them back for what they did to his eldest son Tushi five years ago.

"Zhu Feng spoke about a night of horror after we left him, I think it all has something to do with that. There's many stories of people finding their true courage after facing death, survival mode can turn the most useless human into the fiercest of it's kind. Unfortunately we can't make use of that to train these bunch of waste who call themselves soldiers on the west borders, honestly I find the west more dangerous than the other three fronts combined and am very disappointed with the previous general's handling of these western fronts. One spark in the right place can make half our Shi kingdom's territory swarmed get swarmed by beasts in a matter of days."

Advisor Jian Jianjun spoke his mind and most of the special unit under general Lian's were shocked by his words.

Beast mountains are dangerous but there's mountain sect to fend the dangerous demonic beasts.

How can normal animals and beasts occupy half their kingdom?

"That's why I'm here, are you looking down on this Lian?"

The general patted his chest and teased his friend.

"I wouldn't dare, tonight I'll drink three more cups to apologise."

Jianjun smiled at his old friend's jape and enjoyed the return of his old friend Lian Laoci's true character back, wild and carefree.

Ever since battalion leader Tushi died, the general seemed vulnerable to provocations, sometimes even being narrow-minded and arrogant, he didn't hesitate to sacrifice his men in a couple of occasions to deliver a harder blow to the enemy which made Jian Jianjun displeased and sad for the extreme change in the general's character.

Now it seems like the dark clouds are no more and the true shameless general Lian is back, the nightmare is starting for the western army of Shi kingdom.

'Zhu Feng Huh, this Jian is indebted to you for pulling my best friend from his darkness' advisor Jian Jianjun looked north then gave a slight bow as he thought that.

Meanwhile Zhu Feng was holding the sword in his hand after unsheathing it from the ivory scabbard which had patterns of green-gold flowers.

"He gave me a sword that belonged to a member of his family! This gift is a bit much, he already apologized for what his men did."

As he watched the sharp silver blade of the fine sword and looked back at his own reflection on it Feng noticed the name Lian Tushi itched above the sword guard and felt conflicted emotions, he tried to scold the general and was doing that to release some of the stifled emotions in his chest.

Then he got rewarded an apology on top of a family heirloom.

"Obsidian city Huh, might as well sell some chickens. Trading is always the most profitable business."

Sheathing the sword he placed it in his sack next to the pups and continued north.