Wu Jian looked around at the dark expanse of space. Where was he? How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was… nothing. He couldn’t remember what he was doing before now.

“Wu… Jian…”

A low groan echoed behind him. It was the sound of someone in agony. Wu Jian felt a jolt of fear race through his spine. He didn’t want to turn around, but something compelled him to.

“F-Father…”

His father stood before him, his face gaunt, skin palid like it had been drained of blood, and a gaping hole through his chest. Bits of flesh hung around the hole and blood spilled out to cover the entire lower half of his hanfu.

“You… why are you so weak? Why weren’t you… strong? If you… were stronger… you could have… saved the clan…”

Wu Jian took a step back, fear clawing at his insides, but he tried to stand his ground.

“I… I tried my best! I trained hard everyday! It’s not that I’m weak! I just… it was too soon! I haven’t even entered the Hunger Realm yet!”

“Excuses…” a hiss echoed behind him.

Even though he had no desire to turn around, his body was compelled by a force he couldn’t understand. It didn’t obey his commands.

The woman behind him was Wu Taohua. Her body was covered in wounds, her left arm was missing, and half of her face was gone. All that remained was bits of muscle attached to a skull. The sight was so horrifying that he wanted to wretch, but his body still wasn’t obeying him.

“That’s all you’ve been good at. Coming up with excuses.”

“No… I…”

“How could you, Little Jian…”

The muscles in Wu Jian’s neck clenched as he turned to find his mother now standing behind him. She wasn’t even a whole person. Just half a body lying on the ground, blood and entrails spilling from her lower half as she raised her hand toward him as though to claw his face off.

“How could you abandon us like this?” she asked.

“I… I didn’t…”

“I can’t believe you’re so weak,” a new voice said.

Wu Jian clenched his jaw. More than anyone else, he didn’t want to face the owner of this voice. He struggled and shouted not to turn around. Like the previous three times, his body didn’t listen to his commands.

He turned around.

Wu Meiying stood there. She was pristine, unlike the others, but while that should have been a blessing, the cold look on her face caused his heart to seize up. She had never once stared at him like that.

“You’re really pathetic, Jian. I was hoping you could get stronger, but it looks like I was wrong. This is the end for us. Farewell.”

“Don’t go… wait… Mei! I’ll stronger! I promise! Don’t go!!!”

Wu Jian reached out his hand. It was the first time he’d been able to move of his own volition. Yet what he grabbed onto was not Wu Meiying. It was something soft and round. He blinked once, twice, thrice, then realize he was sitting up in a small sleeping bag. The morning sun streamed in through the open flaps of a tent, the sound of people outside echoed back to him, and a blushing Xing Zhenya sat on her thighs before him.

“Um… little brother… could you please… r-remove your hand?” she asked.

“Huh?”

It took Wu Jian a moment to realize why she was asking him to remove his hand. He glanced at the offending appendage, which was firmly grabbing Xing Zhenya’s soft breast.

“Oh… I’m… I’m sorry.”

Wu Jian removed his hand, his cheeks and ears warm like someone had lit them on fire. He wasn’t embarrassed that he touched a woman’s chest. He was ashamed that he had done so without permission.

“It’s fine,” Xing Zhenya muttered. She was also blushing. “I don’t think you did it on purpose. You were having a nightmare, right?”

“Yeah…”

“You’ve had quite a few of those. Is it…”

“Just remember what happened to my family.”

“I thought so. I’m sorry. I wish I could help you, but…”

“It’s fine. This is just something I’ve had to deal with.”

“Right. Well, anyway, we’re packing up. We should arrive in Chenhou by noon today. Why don’t you help us pack? It will help keep your mind off your nightmares.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you.”

Xing Zhenya stood up and offered her hand to Wu Jian, helping him stand. He rolled up his sleeping bag as the young woman left the tent.

A soft growl echoed from below him and a tail shot from his shadow to smack his left leg.

“I didn’t touch her on purpose,” Wu Jian muttered bitterly.

“Grrrr.”

The tail smacked his other leg.

“I’m also sorry you have to stay in my shadow, but it’s better this way. We don’t know what sort of trouble we’ll run into. It is better for you to hide now in case we need a hidden trump card to survive.”

Yōuměi growled once more before going silent.

Wu Jian left the tent briefly to put his sleeping bag in one of the carts before taking the tent down and putting that away as well.

Everyone else was hard at work too. Many of them greeted him with cheerful smiles as he helped out where he could, and before long, the caravan was on the road once more.

Wu Jian sat in the carriage with Xing Zhenya and her bodyguard.

“Since we’re almost home, let me tell you a bit more about what the Xing Chamber of Commerce does. While we do trade goods with the Shang Kingdom, we only do that once a month. Our primary source of income actually comes from finding and selling various items that we find in the nearby Magical Beast Forest. Do you know what the Endless Abyss is?” asked Xing Zhenya.

Wu Jian shook his head, ignoring the bump their carriage hit. “No. What is that?”

“It’s a gaping hole in the ground, a ravine so deep that no one knows how far down it goes. Several brave cultivators from Wind-Lightning Pavilion have gone down to explore it, but none have ever returned.”

“And that Endless Abyss has something to do with the Magical Beast Forest?” asked Wu Jian.

Xing Zhenya smiled. “Yes. Many magical beasts come up from the Endless Abyss. Most of them are only at the Hunger Realm, so they aren’t too strong, though there are a few at the Anima and even Asura Realm that have come out of there. Anyway, the Xing Chamber of Commerce hunts and sells or trades those parts of those magical beasts along with whatever rare ingredients we can find.”

Wu Jian nodded along as he listened. There were many cultivators who made their living this way. Trading and selling rare ingredients found during exploration was one of the primary sources of income for people known as Rogue Cultivators, who were cultivators that didn’t belong to a sect.

“Have you ever ran into any magical beasts at the Anima Realm?” asked Wu Jian.

“We did once,” Gao Zhou said, then grinned. “But that was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Gao Zhou is at the fifth subrealm of the Anima Realm. He’s the strongest warrior in my caravan,” Xing Zhenya said.

Wu Jian didn’t actually know what level of cultivation Gao Zhou was at until now since it had never come up in conversation. He was in his mid-thirties and had only reached the fifth subrealm of the Anima Realm, which would be considered weak by the standards of cultivators located in sects and large cities. Wu Jian didn’t say anything about that, however.

“My lady, we’re coming up on Chenhou,” a voice said from outside.

“Little brother Wu, do you want to look out the window and see Chenhou for the first time?” asked Xing Zhenya.

Xing Zhenya had started calling him “little brother” shortly after he saved her from the magical beast. He later learned she didn’t actually need saving, but that was neither here nor there. She seemed to appreciate his desire to protect him and thus had started referring to him as “little brother.”

Family was important. If someone referred to you as their brother, it meant they were acknowledging your importance in their life. That Xing Zhenya was referring to him as a younger brother was simply a term of endearment.

“This will be the first city I’ve seen since coming to the Ming Dynasty,” Wu Jian said.

He looked out the window and saw a city in the distance that couldn’t have been much larger than Zahn City, but the architecture was a little different. They possessed the same style of roof that the Shang Kingdom had, but the statues on the roofs were no longer dragons but a boar instead.

They passed through a small gate guarded by a pair of cultivators. They weren’t stopped. The guards seemed to recognize this group and waved them on through.

Now that he had a closer look, he noticed that most of the buildings were made of brick instead of wood. A few had timber used in their construction, but it wasn’t the preeminent material being used. Several buildings their caravan passed looked much more refined. They had murals and paintings decorating the exterior.

The caravan soon stopped at a large building with a refined elegance that bespoke of its owner’s wealth. Most of the building was made of brick, but several walls were timber, and those walls had paintings that depicted a wild boar covered in lightning fighting against a giant bird surrounded by tornadoes. The lintel posts that surrounded the building kept the overhang of the roof from caving in.

Xing Zhenya smiled at Wu Jian as Gao Zhou opened the door and stepped out. “This is our stop. Welcome to my home, Little Brother.”

Wu Jian stepped outside after Xing Zhenya and traveled up to the building, which seemed to be about four stories, making it one of the larger buildings in the city. It wasn’t quite as large as Zahn City’s auction house, but it wasn’t far off either.

They entered the building, where a middle-aged man dressed in a resplendent hanfu stood. He smiled and walked over the moment he saw them. Behind him were two young men who looked like bodyguards.

“Xing’er, I’m glad you returned safely. How was your journey?” the man asked as he swept Xing Zhenya into his arms.

“It was good, Father. I had a very eventful and productive trip.” Xing Zhenya returned her father’s hug.

“You’ll have to tell me all about it.” Her father stepped back and smiled at her, then blinked when his eyes turned to Wu Jian. “And who is this?”

Xing Zhenya stepped back as well and gestured to Wu Jian. “This is Little Brother Jian Wu. I met him during my travels and offered to let him come with me. He’s very strong. He’s not even sixteen yet, but he’s already strong enough to slay magical beasts at the Hunger Realm barehanded.”

“Barehanded, you say? Someone who hasn’t even reached the Hunger Realm yet can slay magical beasts barehanded? That is quite the feat,” her father said.

“I know you must be skeptical, but it’s true,” Gao Zhou said. “I witnessed him break a Black Mountain Wolf’s neck in a single punch.”

“Oh, no. I believe Xing Zhenya. She would never lie to me. I’m merely shocked.” The man smiled as he placed the fist of his left hand into the palm of his right. His bow was small, a mere tilt of the waste, but it was enough to show his respect. “Greetings, Jian Wu. My name is Xing Bai. I am Xing Zhenya’s father and the head of the Xing Chamber of Commerce.”

Wu Jian returned the man’s gesture, though his bow was lower to show respect to his elder. “It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Senior Bai. As Big Sister Zhenya said, my name is Jian Wu. Your daughter was kind enough to let me travel with her. I might have died if not for her blessings.”

Xing Bai smiled broadly. “Ha ha ha! I see you know how to show respect! Good. That’s very good. My daughter is a kind soul and always lends a hand to those who need it. Tell me, young man, what are your plans now?”

“My plans? I… don’t really have any right now,” Wu Jian confessed.

The only thing Wu Jian wanted to do now was become stronger, but he didn’t have many ways of doing that. There was only so much he could do until he turned sixteen and broke through to the Hunger Realm.

“In that case, why don’t you stay here for now? You can help my daughter when she and her group explore the Magical Beast Forest,” Xing Bai suggested.

Wu Jian pondered the idea briefly, then nodded. “Thank you for the offer. I will take you up on it. Big Sister Zhenya has treated me kindly, and I have yet to return her kindness, so this would be a good chance to repay her.”

“You don’t need to do that, Little Brother. I didn’t help you because I expected repayment,” Xing Zhenya said with a pout.

Wu Jian was adamant. “No, it is not right to leave a debt unpaid. Kindness should always be repaid with kindness. Since you have helped me, I will definitely help you.”

“You’re a man of honor and principals. I like that.” Xing Bai clapped his hands. “Very well, allow me to set you up with a room here. We have several that have gone unused for many years now, so it’s not too much trouble.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Senior Bai,” Wu Jian said, once more bowing.