52 I'm not backing down!!

Ruoshan looked at the girl who was staring at him in anger. But he didn't care. She's more important than anything else. If he had to choose between the entire mainland and her, of course he would always choose her without any doubt.

He cupped her face in his hands and said in a coaxing voice. "Don't worry. If you want, I'll give you hundreds of Dongji village in return. Forget that! If you say then I'll win the entire Qi Continent for you."

"Eww!! Can you hear yourself? You can't even save yourself and you are talking about winning the entire world? Tell me something - are all you guys born with this cheekiness? It doesn't suit you by the way!" Li Ming said as she tried to free herself from his hold. But unfortunately he didn't even noticed her attempt.

"I'm serious!" Ruoshan said in a strict tone but his smiling eyes gave him away.

"It's not about the orphanage anymore. There are hundreds of children who are loosing their childhood because of this. I can't just let it pass like a wind. If I can save them then I'm going to do my best." Li Ming finally said the words that she had in her heart for the past two days.

In these two days she realized that this was not a problem for her orphanage only, but many other children of the Empire were going to loose their childhood in the darkness of slavery or brothels.

In her last life, her father thaught her to care for others. She was responsible for thousands of people who looked at her for their safety and security. She had always tried her best to give them a better and safe society to live.

The only difference between these two lives was that in her past life she was responsible for the safety of her people and rest of the supernatural world but in this new life she was not. 

The only people for whom she was responsible were those who were working for her. But that didn't change the fact that she was brought up with the teachings of helping and protecting the weaks.

"Let's assume that you will save these children today, then what? These are the children who don't have homes or whose parents have sold them. Where  do you think these children will go? What they are going to eat? Where they are going to stay? There are thousands of other children like them on this mainland. Are you going to save all of them?" Ruoshan asked the girl who was looking at him with sadness in her eyes.

"Maybe I can't save all the children right now but that's not going to stop me from trying. I don't know what I'll do after this but if saving these children from this hell means that I have to raise them, then I'm not backing down. I will take them with me to Dongji village and make sure that one day they will be powerful enough to stand on their own and help me in saving the others." A single tear rolled down Li Ming's face as she looked at the man who's making her feel worse at the moment.

"Hey! You are not supposed to cry!" Ruoshan nearly had a heart attack after seeing that single tear. It was like a dagger was forcing it's way through his heart.

He engulfed the girl in his arms tightly and started rubbing her back soothingly.

"Don't cry anymore. I'm not stopping you from doing anything. Just promise me that you will be safe." Ruoshan said softly as he continued to hold her.

"Why are you so against of this?" Li Ming asked the man who was holding her so tightly that she couldn't even move her hands.

Ruoshan sighed as he heard her question. After a minute of silence he finally said, "Because you are not prepared. Do you think the people behind all this are someone normal? No, they are not. Although they are not the most powerful people of the mainland but they are still out of your league. I'm just afraid that you are not ready to face those kind of danger at the moment."

Didn't know why but after hearing his reply, Li Ming's heart relaxed. She stopped struggling and put her head on his chest. She could hear the rhythmic sound of his beating heart.

"I'll be alright." She didn't know how to respond. So, she finally said the only thing that came into her mind.

"I know that you will...Let's practice sword play with me from now on?" Ruoshan finally found a chance and of course, he took it.

"Hey! Not that thing again! That sword of yours is even longer than half of my height. Also it's so sharp. What if I ended up hurting myself or if I somehow.....!" Before Li Ming could complete her babbling, Ruoshan put his finger on her lips to silence her.

"No more excuses. I will let you do as you wish but in return you have to learn the sword play!" His voice was firm and Li Ming knew that she was trapped this time.

"Why are you so into teaching me that sword art of yours?" Li Ming asked and her unhappiness from the situation was evident on her face.

"Because I know that you will need it in future. The road that you are going to take today will lead you into the dark reality of this world and to fight with that you need to learn anything and everything! Are we clear now?"

Could she even say something against that speech? But deep down in her heart even she knew that Ruoshan was telling her the truth.

When Ruoshan saw that she was not saying no anymore, he finally relaxed. He started patting her head and said softly, "Have some sleep. We are still a few hours away from the Xi Qiu City. I'll wake you up when we reach there."

Li Ming didn't even get the chance to say no as she instantly fell asleep.