Ghost Boy

The sound of birds chirping and the breeze of morning dew filled the sense of Bie Feng as he slowly opened his dark brown eyes. He fell into a daze thinking about the last few moments his master and he had.

"Ow ow ow…."

Looking at the bruised ridden body, he finally acknowledged that becoming a human child was not a dream since it hurts all over when he was just moving a muscle. He stretched his body carefully and decided to reorganize his thoughts.

Now he seems to have entered a child's body...whose body is it? Where is he at? Which year is this? Bie Feng tried to look for clues on the body but can only tell that the child could possibly be a victim of abuse. By who, he is not clear. The clothes that were worn by the child seemed to look more like rags than actual clothes, they were tattered and made from very low-quality fabric.

From the size of the body, it seems to be a child around the age of 5-6 years old. The thought of someone abusing a kid this young sickens him to the bone and he felt stuffy in his heart.

"Oh!" Bie Feng shouted in delight as he had a random thought.

Does this child's body have a spiritual root? If he does, then he could cultivate as well ah!

He had always admired his Master's spiritual strength and was amazed at human cultivators. Back then when he was just a sword, his spiritual power can only be activated when his master injects his spiritual power while using it.

The stronger a master is, the stronger the sword spiritual power would be when it was wielded. Without a master providing it with spiritual power, it is just a normal sword.

But...how do humans check their spiritual roots or cultivate? Bie Feng had no clue.

The sudden thought of his master, Tie Cheng, made Bie Feng's heart tighten uncomfortably. Until his death, his master was still being accused and maligned by the very people he tried to protect. He wonders where his master is now?

Since he was not able to figure out how to cultivate as a human, he decided to go see if there's any village or civilisation around it. It can't be possible that a human child just appears in the middle of nowhere by himself right?

Bie Feng grabbed a thick branch that fell from the storm last night and used it to help support his weight as he walked with one broken foot.

Now that the sky has brightened, he is able to see a small path leading across the forest and walk towards it, hoping to find someone who can help identify him. He has been walking for more than an hour and started to feel the toll on his weak body, but the sound of moving water caught his attention and he looked towards the direction of it.

"A river! There should be people or villages nearby soon." Bie Feng thought to himself and quickly dragged his body towards the river. When he was crouching down to quench his thirst, he saw the reflection of the child.

"So freaking dirty!" Bie Feng frowned as he saw his face covered with dirt and hair littered with small leaves and random bits of sand.

Without taking out his clothes, he plunged into the river and washed his entire body instead.

As a sword previously, he was able to feel temperatures and textures as long as his blade touched it, so he knew what "cold" and "hot" was. But he didn't expect bathing in the river to be so freaking cold ah! It must be because the body is so weak!

Thinking he is still in the body of a young child, he didn't want to stay too long in the cold water and quickly cleaned himself up.

"Uwah! Not bad at all!" Bie Feng patted his face against the reflection as he traced the outlines of his eyes.

Although the child was mostly bones, his facial features were sharp and his eyebrows brought out the beauty of his almond-shaped eyes.

"Isn't this too skinny for a child hmm?" his lips twitched as he looked at his protruding ribs. His stomach felt strange like it was empty, and for the first time in his life, he guessed that this feeling might be the so-called, "hunger".

The wind started to blow harder and he shivered while putting on his tattered clothes and walked along the river.

--

A sharp pain came from the side of his head and Bie Feng groaned in pain while holding his head.

"Ghost boy!" A chubby boy dressed in high-quality fabric hurled as he continued to throw stones at Bie Feng.

"Ew!!! Ghost boy is so stupid and smelly!" the children around the chubby boy started to laugh and snicker while joining in the fun of throwing stones.

"What the fuck?" Bie Feng screamed at them loudly and glared at them.

The children heard Bie Feng scream and were surprised that the ghost boy actually reacted so fiercely. He is normally timid and would run away or beg for them to leave him alone.

"You dare stare at me like that again and I will dig out your eyes!" The chubby boy twice his size was so angry that he started to walk towards Bie Feng while rummaging his bag for a knife.

Bie Feng was just a child and has not gained any spiritual enlightenment so he knows that he may be at a disadvantage. He kept his distance and hurriedly picked up a few stones and sent them flying towards the chubby boy.

One of the stones thrown had hit the chubby boy and scratched his face.

"How dare you, ghost boy! I will kill you now!" The chubby boy sprinted towards him.

"Go away! I don't even know you!" Bie Feng struggled as he was lifted up in the air by his neck.

"Young Master, you can't kill him!" A young servant around the same age as the chubby boy ran towards the two of them.

"Tsk... Xiao Li, how come you're here? Didn't you go pick up our clothes?" Hu Lei grumbled and looked away, loosening his grip.

"Not yet...I can't be here?" The young servant lowered his lashes apologetically and looked at the ground.

Bie Feng's neck was immediately released and he was dropped onto the ground.

"Fo..forg...forget it, on the account that we will be enrolling into a Sect soon, I will pity this ghost boy and let him go this time. Xiao Li, go pick up our clothes from the store and return to the Hu Mansion. We still have to prepare for tomorrow." Hu Lei ordered the young servant as he walked away with an annoyed look.

"Yes, young master! Please go back and rest" Xiao Li bowed as he watched the chubby boy join his group of friends in the distance, walking towards the village.

"I thought I'm going to die!" Bie Feng thought to himself as he gasped for air frantically and wriggled in pain on the ground.