Chapter 14: Promise

"Wait!"


A single lone voice exclaimed from the crowd.


Yao Tian out of shock spits out the dumpling he was eating ruining someone's clothes. "Hey! Watch out!"


He and everyone turned their heads to look at the person who dared to shout.


The crowd wanted to see who was foolish enough to interfere in the matters concerning the Lin family.


They knew that a good show would take place.


But for Yao Tian, it was a whole other story as he was filled with anxiousness and dread when he saw the owner of the voice being none other than...


Yao Bao!


'What is he doing!?' Screamed Yao Tian in his head.


The crowd seeing that it was a small boy who decides to interfere could not help but sneer at him.


"What an ignorant kid, he should learn to never meddle with cultivator's affairs."


"He looks like he still drinks his mother's milk."


"He is courting death."


Normally Yao Tian would have been enraged at the people ridiculing his little brother but he was too preoccupied with how to get out of this situation.


He saw the guy named Chen send a hard glare at Yao Bao.


"What was that? You shouted me to stop?" Despite talking in a low and calm voice, people could feel the atmosphere getting tense and cold.


Not being capable to read the mood, Yao Bao did not hesitate to berate the man.


"What is wrong with you!? The man is hurt and bleeding, you shouldn't make him suffer! Dad told me that only bad people do so, then you must be an evil man!"


Silence


* Pfft! *


Snickers could be heard coming from the crowd.


To them, it was obvious that truly this boy was a naïve fool who didn't know how big the skies were.


The man named Chen continued glaring at the boy and slowly made his way towards him.


Seeing the possibly dangerous man approaching his brother, Yao Tian did not hesitate to step forward and hide his brother behind his back while trying to apologise to the man.


"I-I am very sorry sir, my brother is still young and immature, he does not know what he is saying half of the time. Pl-Please accept my apology on his behalf and let us put this matter behind us." He said while continuously bowing his head.


But Mo Chen did not seem to hear his words or even acknowledge his presence.


"Do you realise what you have just said, boy?" He asked in a calm voice.


Yao Bao meanwhile continued to glare at the man while standing behind his brother.


"Yea I know what I said. You are a meanie! A big fat bully!"


"..."


At this point, the crowd was starting to wonder if the young kid had a death wish or if he was mentally challenged.


"Such audacity! I am the protector of Young master from the Lin clan and you dare insult us!? Trashes like you and your brother are to be taught a lesson!"


Before Mo Chen could teach the brothers their lesson, something unexpected happened.


Rather it would be more appropriate to say that a random person suddenly fell in front of Mo Chen almost making him trip.


"Wha-What the?"


An old granny fell flat in front of Mo Chen. She appeared to be in her sixties if not her seventies.


Her clothes were old and dirty, her white hair was completely dishevelled, she was most likely a beggar in Yao Tian's opinion.


"Who is this filthy woman!? Do you have a death wish as well!?" Mo Chen roared.


To his surprise, the old woman was not even phased by his threat and instead was more annoyed by it.


"Hugh... Shut it will ya brat... To much wine... Never a good idea..." The old woman was barely conscious yet alone thinking straight.


"Hurgh, of course, you're a drunk waste." Said Mo Chen in disgust.


Being at the end of his wits, he decided to lift the drunkard and throw her back into the crowd.


He didn't want to continue this for long and attract the attention of the other clan members.


But just as he was about to lift her up from the ground, her face grew increasingly sick and green.


'Well, that ain't good...'


* Bleurgh! *


"My clothes!"


The drunk old woman vomited everything she had onto Mo Chen!


In his stupor he let the old woman go and immediately took off his clothes.


"Fucking disgusting!"


"AHH! Uncle Chen are you alright?" Asked Lin We in worry.


Hastily taking off his upper clothes and discarding them. Mo Chen let his young master know that he was fine.


"Don't worry young master, I am alright. Just need to get new clothes before accompanying you to the selection test. Damn disgusting peasants always ruining everyone's day."


As he was about to turn around and demand the old lady for compensation for ruining his clothes.


He discovered there to be no one in the spot where he dropped her.


"Where is she!?" As many times he continued to survey the crowd he couldn't find her. And for that matter, the sibling duo was gone too.


"Damn all of you! Pray that we never meet again or else you will know the Lin clan's fury!"


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As the man continued to holler in rage, Yao Tian was on the side of the district running as fast as his legs could take while also carrying his brother on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.


He used the first chance he got when Mo Chen was distracted by the old woman to get the heck out of there. Staying there would have only invited even more trouble.


"Are you crazy Yao Bao!? What were you thinking back there?" After making sure that they were safe, Yao Tian immediately started to reprimand his younger brother.


"I couldn't just stand and say nothing while that man was about to be beaten." He said timidly almost on the verge of crying. This was probably the first time he saw his brother so angry at him.


"And *sniff* and cultivators are always said to be upright and good people in the books. Since I want to be one, I have to stop bad people from hurting others. *sniff* "


The boy was crying.


Seeing his brother in such a state, all the frustration and anger Yao Tian might have had previously vanished in an instant.


"It is okay Bao, I understand." He started patting his brother's back while hugging him to calm him down. "You wanting to help someone in trouble is not a bad thing, in fact, I would be very happy if you did so. But this is different, in this case, you were also putting your life in danger and without any way to defend yourself, who knows what horrible stuff could have happened to you"


After calming him down a bit, Yao Tian had a stern expression on his face while he said to Yao Bao.


"So promise me. Promise me that when you will be accepted in any sects and we happen to be separate. To never and I mean NEVER put yourself in any harm's way. If you have the opportunity to help someone in trouble without it being a danger to yourself then help them if you wish. But if you put yourself in needless danger because of someone and that something happened to you. Then I and dad would be destroyed. So promise me to always look after yourself and never act selflessly."


Yao Bao reluctantly nodded his little head.


"I-I promise you Tian! I won't ever make you or Dad worry about it because I will be strong, super strong to beat all the baddies!" He said in a determined voice.


Yao Tian felt a bit like a hypocrite there, because just a while ago he had risked his life to save Song Shou against the Tiger Snake. Even though both his and Yao Bao's life would have been in danger if Song Shou failed.


A part of Yao Tian knew that he would have probably still helped his friend if the situation was different.


But he did not regret his words, he would rather have a cowardly brother than a dead one.


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After their little talk, the siblings decided to leave the west district for now in fear of running into Mo Chen again. So they made their way to the Nie family district in the north.


While the Lin family's district was mostly a place occupied by bars, restaurants and tea houses.


The Nie district on the other hand was filled with blacksmiths, weapon shops, armour shops and so much more. The streets were mostly occupied with wandering cultivators and soldiers browsing the various items on display.


The same went for the siblings, they were awed at some of these weapons they haven't even seen before.


There were swords made out of gems, some of out of special stone and even bone swords carved from powerful spirit beasts.


"Wow, so many swords!" Yao Tian could swear that he could see stars twinkling in his brother's eyes when he saw the various swords on display.


The most beautiful sword was called the 'Abyss Sword'.


It described a travelling blacksmith who by chance came across a black rock while journeying across the Great Desert of the southern regions.


According to locals, as mentioned in the legends, the location was where a huge battle between Jiang Chen and the Abyss Dragon Lord took place.


The beast was said to have come from the void itself. In legends, the Dragon was so enormous that its sheer size covered half of their world.


The battle that took place between Jiang Chen and the Abyss Dragon Lord was so destructive that it shattered the heavens into 9 parts!


A cataclysmic battle of unprecedented proportion that instilled the fear of death in all of the immortal's and god's hearts at that time.


After the beast was vanquished its body fell back into the void


But the battle left many of its body parts scattered around the world.


Scales that later became mountains, blood that created entire rivers and oceans and remnant Qi that gave life to new species.


Of course many chalked the story as made up and only existed to attract people.


The Smith in question who found the black rock was convinced that the black rock is in fact, a scale from the legendary dragon.


Of course many didn't believe him, as according to their argument how could a sword be forged from the scale of a beast that could shatter the world itself?


Even with the world mocking him, the blacksmith insisted his claim to be the truth till his deathbed.


Not wanting to dismiss the sword, even with its questionable origins, it did not change the fact that it was an excellent blade.


It never chipped, cracked nor dulled with time. The blacksmith's family decided to sell the sword as it brought many painful memories.


From owner to owner, the sword was passed down many hands till it was rediscovered on a battlefield and brought back to be sold again in this store.


But Yao Tian's wonder soon turned into horror as he saw the price for the sword.


"One million low-grade Qi Pills!?"


'First of all, I didn't know that there was a grading system for Qi pills and secondly, who can even buy that!?' Though Yao Tian in astonishment.


Not wanting to feel his soul crushed by the price tag, Yao Tian immediately left the spot.


Hoping to find another good and affordable sword for his brother Yao Tian continued to browse through the many different blades on display.


But it was more along the line of Yao Bao dragging him to different stores.


A scrawny person suddenly came in front of the shop blocking the view of the words. He opened both of his arms widely in an almost theatrical way and said in a loud voice.


"Hooo what is this? You are interested in these crinkly dinky puny swords. Ha! What a joke! Forget about these loser's weapons and come by Sou Kun's smithy to buy true weapons for real strong men!"


'This day just keeps getting better doesn't it?'