Dai Family

"The beast..." An ordinary middle-aged man spoke in a slow tone as he stroked the bard of his chin, immersed in thoughts of the rumors circulating the city.

"A terrible monstrous beast that killed many young cultivators in the woods..." A young girl spoke beside the middle-aged man as if to elaborate on the idea of such a beast.

"Yes, that's what I heard." One of the boys who brought news of the rumors spoke with a proud smile, thinking he did an excellent job bringing news as fast as he thought it was possible. "I heard that even the Xun siblings that are already so strong ran away scared of the forest."

"Is that true?" The girl asked when a sparkle appeared in her eyes when she heard about the Siblings Xun.

"Yes, that is true. I saw them terrified in the town square talking to Elder Xiong of the Black Sword Sect." The boy told everything he heard about the rumors and also about the group he saw talking in the town square. These were the group of Nero and Xiong Zhelan.

"And my Zhi?" Before the girl can answer the errand boy, 'I understand,' the middle-aged man asked now in a more concerned tone.

The boy bowed his head. The girl didn't know what to think, but the middle-aged man got up alarmed from the old wooden chair.

"Say clearly everything you know about my daughter!" Dai Dong knew that the boy was avoiding talking about Dai Zhi because it was not good news, and he feared his fury.

"Calm down, father! The big sister knows how to take care of herself." Dai Jingyi, the Dai Zhi's little sister, said trying to calm his father because the terrified boy would not give precise information.

"I li-lis-listened t-that she could be eaten by the beast." The errand boy stammered but, in the end, managed to speak what he heard in the town square.

"It can not be..." Dai Dong fell limp backward, which luckily fell into the chair he was previously on. "My little princess? Beast food?" Dai Dong widened his eyes in disbelief and fear.

"Tsk... You're getting old, dad..." Dai Jingyi, who was only thirteen, shook her head in disappointment at her father, who is getting softer with the years.

"Call Wei Ping now!" Dai Jingyi roared loud enough for the servants of the Dai family to hear and turned to the boy who was startling, seeing the old Dai Dong stunned in his chair. "And you boy get back on the streets and bring us any useful information." Dai Jingyi took a silver coin from his father's pocket and threw it at the boy who took it and ran out of the room.

"Get back, dad. People can't think our family is weak. You need to be strong or at least pretend in front of others." Dai Jingyi patted Dai Dong on the head as she advised him to be intimidating.

"Little Miss." It wasn't even a full minute before Wei Ping arrived and bowed to Dai Jingyi. He knew she called him but when he came and saw Dai Dong in the room wanted to introduce himself to him but soon noticed that the formally 'head' of the Dai family was not in a condition to give any orders, so he bowed to the Little Miss who didn't was immature for her age.

"You have to take a couple of Qi Refinement sixth layer cultivators and head into the woods in the south of the town square where the Elder of Black Sword Sect is doing his little competition to find the big sister. Now!" Dai Jingyi spoke quickly and clearly in a dominant and authoritative tone.

"Yes, I am going right now, my lady!" Wei Ping was pleased that the two Misses were still quite sharp and confident, unlike Dai Dong, after his wife traveled.

It was well known that Dai Dong was a made by his wife but after she left he focused on strengthening Dai Zhi and family matters would be overlooked if it wasn't for the clever little Miss who kept everyone in line when her older sister only wanted to know about Cultivation and to compete with the Xun family daughter.

"I trust my big sister's strength, but it looks like there's a new beast prowling the woods, and I don't want to risk her safety." Dai Jingyi still kept his tone serious, but when she spoke of her sister's safety, she made a kind expression and looked at her father just to shake her head.

"I understand. I'll leave now. Take care of your father, and thank you for leading us, little miss." Wei Ping was a thin middle-aged man with gray hair. He looked like a kind grandfather and always acted like this to both Little Misses as he took care of the safety of the Dai family before their births.

"Big sis... What did you get into this time?" After Wei Ping left the room, Dai Jingyi thought of his sister, who always got in trouble as she rolled her eyes at her father, who looked even more childish than Dai Zhi.

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"Why does my ear burn? Who is speaking ill of this beautiful and talented Miss?!" Dai Zhi, who was almost arriving in the town square, stopped for a second when she felt her warm ear and knew that someone was talking about her.

Dai Zhi took advantage of the fact that she stopped running and kicked one of the henchmen in the ass. "You are useless! Why can't you even find a simple beast?" She was furious to find no trace of the beast. Dai Zhi had to be very unlucky not to find the tracks of destruction and bodies that Nero left in the forest.

"We are sorry, my lady! That beast must know that it cannot survive a blow from you, so it must have been hiding in fear. The unfortunate henchman who was accustomed to being brutally treated by his Miss tried his best to put her in a good mood.

"Yoo-hoo, don't try to flatter me, you idiot, you're lucky that I'm a good miss and don't send you hunting the beast the whole night." Dai Zhi gave another kick to the poor guy, and then they continued walking to leave the forest, which was very sinister at night.

Well. On that specific day, the forest was much more dangerous in the day. At least for humans.

After walking for half an hour, Dai Zhi and his henchmen could see lights from the town square. "I hope he left the forest safe too." She can't help thinking about Nero. She liked that new feeling of caring for someone other than her father and sister.

"Ah!" After arriving in the street in front of the town square, Dai Zhi was thinking about Nero when she saw him sitting on a bench next to Elder Xiong and holding Xun Lan's hand that looked like a little girl in love on a date with her lover.

"That idiot Xun Lan arrived first and is already so close to him!" She didn't wait another second before running towards them.

"Nero! Glad you're fine!" Dai Zhi arrived and didn't even care about Elder Xiong, then jumped on Nero, hugging him tightly and pulling him out of Xun Lan's claws. "Sorry me please, I couldn't find the beast." Dai Zhi apologized while sniffing on Nero's shoulder in the same way that Xun Lan had done before.

"And here we go again..." Everyone thought except Nero who thought another round of curses in his mind. Xun Lan also has different thoughts, thinking that Dai Zhi was very scandalous now and that she would never do anything so inappropriate... She did the same!

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The main square in the city of Abun has never been so lively and full of people. Even at night, everyone wanted to go to see the Elder of the Black Sword Sect, the main misses in the city, and a strange white-haired boy who lived in the forest.

Many people were whispering through the streets and corners. Old and young, women and men, all paying close attention to the circular bench where you could see several young cultivators.

Sitting from left to right were: Zhu Tai, Dai Wen, Dai Zhi, Nero, Xun Lan, Xun Feng, and an old lady who was already sitting there.

Dai Zhi and Xun Lan were holding Nero's arms while making faces at each other. The boys were jealous of the attention Nero received from the girls who even forgot about the beast. Elder Xiong was thinking about what to do after hearing everyone's point of view about the beast's story. And the old lady only thought about why the boy in the middle of the girls had white hair like her but was clearly so young.

"Has any of you seen or heard of a bat-headed beast?" Elder Xiong asked, and everyone except Nero shook his head in denial. "Uhm... I also never heard about anything like that..." Xiong Zhelan thought out loud, and everyone was making 'Uhm' sounds.

"Whatever it is, we have to kill it. But now it is night, and it must be more challenging to find the 'beast' in the dark without an excellent tracker." Xiong Zhelan is confident in his strength as a Martial Warrior, but against the unknown, it is always good to be cautious. Thinking like that, he survived until now, even with so many disasters that occurred to him.

"Mmhm, uh-hu." And everyone seated nodded in agreement, even the old lady.

"And now we have to decide where Nero is staying tonight. Tomorrow we will enter the forest and find the beast, so it will not take more innocent lives." Xiong Zhelan planned to take Nero to the same inn he stayed. Then tomorrow they would go to the forest to find the beast.

But when everyone nodded in agreement that time, Dai Zhi and Xun Lan looked at each other clearly to show their point of not letting Nero escape from them. And Xiong Zhelan understood well what was going on, but he didn't know how to solve it and could only try to take Nero with him.

"He will stay with me!" Dai Zhi quickly spoke as she got up. "He's under the protection of my Xun family!" Xun Lan spoke louder. And the two faced each other with imaginary rays passing between them.

The boys did not know what to do. The old lady who was closely watching them liked the show she saw having a lot of fun with it all. Passers-by on the street and people in the square also enjoyed the show and gossiped more and more.

Nero made a confused face with a slightly flushed tone. Anyone would think he was embarrassed to have two beautiful girls fighting over him. And this was supposed to be what he calls 'little details of the performance' but that red tone was him containing the explosive anger that was growing more and more.

Nero promised himself that these girls would not live until next week. Sarah, on the other hand, already wanted them dead for the next few minutes. But things were not as easy as killing who they wanted when they wanted. At least for now.

"Today was a challenging day for you and all the young cultivators who were in the forest, so let Nero come with me and rest. Tomorrow he is still healthy and kicking so you can have as much of him as you can." Xiong Zhelan just wanted to go out and rest after so much 'beast' history. But he didn't want to leave Nero with these two girls who looked like 'beasts' now.

"Please, girls, calm down and let me go with Elder Xiong to rest. Tomorrow we will all meet again." Nero had to use a lot of willpower to keep from tearing their throats and talking calmly to Xun Lan and Dai Zhi.

"Meh, whatever you think is best," Dai Zhi and Xun Lan released Nero's arms and turned around with a 'humph' and crossing their arms in disapproval.