4 Boiling Anger
Jie Heijun gazed up at the sky taking in all that happened. He had regained his bearings not too long ago and familiarized himself with the area. Once he identified the trees and the sound of the sea being somewhere nearby, he knew the portal sent him back to Beach Town.
These things, however, was not the things pressing on his mind. What had his full thoughts wasn't even the treasure chest he got. No, the crucial problem on his mind was how did the last resident, step into the Half-Step Martial Body layer?
Had the teachings in Beach Town become so bad that its cultivation to improve the body was also flawed?
When he thought more on it, he discarded this train of thought because his mother also believed there were only three layers in each realm. It meant there was a hidden fourth layer, and maybe in each body realm as well.
Jie Heijun sighed, there was no way of knowing the main details just pondering over it. Furthermore, he was still a person with a crippled Qi gathering body. If he didn't fix this first, knowing about such sacred information was meaningless.
It was best to recover first, then head back to his home. Hopefully, nothing happened, to his small shop.
During his childhood years, he found out people would willing paid money for low ranked natural herbs that were tiring to get daily by oneself. Seeing the benefit in being that laborer while working the body at the same time, he decided to sell low-level herbs.
It was also his way of being able to eat a meal since he was now an orphan. The once Jie Clan having only a few survivors didn't accept him as a member of the same clan before leaving Beach Town altogether.
Of course, he didn't feel anything was wrong with this because he also felt no attachments to them. He would have even left himself, with all things considered. After all, it would have been hard trying to help and provide for people that blamed and despised him for the clan's slaughter.
He held no delusions that the outcome would have been only him doing work to overcome their situation, because all of them, had already lost their will to live and grow strong.
With wanting to honor his mother's last words as much as possible, he understood, they could no longer share the same fate. In the end, he let them leave without him. He didn't regret it though because he had finally got his chance to change things.
Feeling that the injuries to his body and mainly the back area recovered enough to walk, he stood up with support from a tree, before heading in the direction of his home.
Jie Heijun soon thought back to the last attack made by the Sound Bat. The blast had been a small explosion, not surprising given the size of the bat, but it was a concentrated blast in one spot that affected the dungeon's G3-ranked space distortion defense.
Thankfully, its aftereffects were nothing more than a strong force of hot heat being pushed out. In the end, letting him survive through that whole experience in one piece.
Making it halfway there, Jie Heijun notice a small group of people in his path. It was three young men who could be regarded as childhood 'friends.' The clothes on their back, were in severe conditions, revealing their backgrounds to be from poor or lower class families.
The only difference was the one in the middle, who wore clothes in a little better conditions than the other two. As the youth stood by the two young men, one would recognize him as the leader of their small group by the air around him, when compared to the others.
This young man was Luo Dongliu. The others were Lin Zheng who stood to Luo Dongliu's right and Xiao Feng to his left. Having noticed his approach, they seemed to have been waiting for him. Their goal being, most likely to start trouble.
"Oh! If it isn't the beggar, Jie Heijun. I was wondering where you ran off too, to be missing for two whole days. My good friend, I not too long ago, passed a small selling stand with no owner managing it. There also happened to be no herbs left. Thinking the owner abandon the place, when a friend asked if it was free to use, I told him it should be okay if there are no herbs locked behind its counter." Here, Luo Dongliu began to look ashamed of himself.
"But who'll have guessed him to destroy the stand, in his search for the herbs. Fortunately, there weren't any herbs there, or I would have felt like I did a misdeed to the owner." Luo Dongliu could no longer keep his laughter in as he gave his final disdainful comment. "Yes, it was truly fortunate."
Anger filled Jie Heijun's eyes as he thought about the hard work he put into building his small shop. It had only been a stall with minor herbs on display from time to time, but it still brought in money. If he didn't own a place to sell at, the town owner wouldn't agree to him making private sells.
Beach Town's head owner Duan Jiang, made all establishments that brought in money selling items, to pay land ownership fees. It was an agreement that the seller or merchant would borrow a spot to have the rights to sell merchandise, and the town owner would get 5% of the profit sales, plus a down payment for the land spot agreed on, for ownership rights.
Furthermore, Luo Dongliu claimed, his friend destroyed his shop and stolen the spot. A spot that was his on the surface, but in the shadows, it's Duan Jiang's. The same as not placing Duan Jiang, in their eyes.
When calming down and analyzing the situation more, there was only one family in Beach Town that had enough influence to ignore the consequences and wrath of the town owner, the Bai Family.
They were one of the two families in Beach Town that had to keep their heads down when the Jie Clan still controlled the town. They were also the people that made all the effort they could to make his life difficult.
Of course, they never took it to the next level, and outright killed him. However, he knew it was more a thing of pride, of being able to make his suffering long rather than quick, from dying. If he ever had a chance to grow, they would switch their method of approach.
Jie Heijun changed his path, into going home instead. If he were to try and use force to wrestle back control of his spot for selling, he would get a beating. He would need to formulate a plan of action and then pay them back with interest.
Watching on the side, Luo Dongliu smiled as he saw Jie Heijun change the way he was going. "First a beggar, and now a coward. Did you two see the look on his face like he would murder somebody? Now, look at him, running home with his tail between his legs after realizing it's the young master's doing. He doesn't dare complain to Young master Bai or that would be the end of him."
Lin Zheng also added his own two cents to the show. "Too bad he didn't lose his cool and attacked us, that way we could teach him a lesson in the young master stead. Wait till he hears that the tournament for the youth selection is in a week. Now, it even costs money to join at a chance for the top 3 winners to be taken to Enclose River City. So much for growing stronger, he'll be lucky if he doesn't grow weaker searching for opportunities to make money."
Scratching his head out of confusion, Xiao Feng looked at the other two, "Why do the young master bully Jie Heijun so much?" he asked. "You don't remember how strong the Jie Clan was and how much they suppressed the Bai Family. Just wait for a week to pass, you will get to see a good show happen." Lin Zheng informed him.
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The area Jie Heijun lived was near the forest area in Beach Town that would lead to a beach after passing through the small tree ranges. Not many placed their homes too close to the sea like Jie Heijun because of the frequent floods.
Being an orphan, Jie Heijun didn't have such luxury to decide his place of housing. Whatever he could get, he had to accept until he was successful.
Arriving home, he walked to a small room before he sat down with his legs crossed. He soon took out the little treasure chest. If the item inside was extraordinary, he might be able to change his fate. "Mother, Father, I leave the outcome of the treasure to you. If you wish for your unfilial son to avenge you, let this be an item to open a path to it."
Finishing paying respects to his parents, he reached out and opened the top half of the treasure chest.
