7 Unneeded Words

"Sparring" was a very inappropriate word for what he was doing. Although Xue Chang said that he wanted to 'spar' with the warriors, it was more appropriate to call it bullying.

The courtyard that they were using was quite big, this villa was something Xue Chang used almost all of his allowance to buy, and as such it covered a large area.

In other words, there was plenty of space for the guards to run.

Screams and shouts of agony could be heard are rumbling and explosions sounded out. If one were to look inside the courtyard, they would find Xue Chang chasing around the guards with a blunt saber in hand. Yet even with a weapon that could not cut them, it could still hurt them badly. And hurt it did.

These two had never seen Xue Chang fight before, and as such they were shocked to discover that not only was he incredibly proficient in battle, but his skill with the blade was terrifying.

It was as if they weren't facing a small child but a wild beast instead. Worse yet, it seemed almost as if he wasn't even giving it his all. He casually hopped around and struck at them while laughing. Not only that, but he even had enough space to breathe and give them pointers sometimes!

"Don't raise your blade too quickly like that, your actions are unbalanced and unsteady. Calm your breathing and fix your stance Tian Hai! Tian Kai, don't swing your staff around like a buffoon! Use its long reach to your advantage and twist your hips and wrist more!"

Their afternoon was spent with them slowly getting beaten within an inch of their life. And once night settled and the moon rose up above, they finally had a chance to take a break!

"You two have done well considering everything! Take some of this medicine and apply it to your body and rest well. We shall continuing sparring tomorrow!"

Xue Chang smiled happily while handing tubes of green cream to each of them. This cream was an extremely expensive medicine made for repairing external injuries like theirs. The two guards hearing that they would continue this "sparring" the next morning passed out on the spot. They were starting to regret their promise to follow Xue Chang.

Watching his two guards pass out from shock, Xue Chang couldn't help but laugh out loudly. He thought back to the day he met them while walking down an alleyway filled with an endless amount of poor and dying people. Two young men around the age of fourteen and twelve laid in the dark corner of a building shivering in the cold.

He discovered later that they were brothers who had been together for as long as they could remember. Their father had collected a large sum of debt due to gambling and ran away when he couldn't pay it off. Meanwhile, the mother tried to pay off the debt by taking risky and dangerous jobs that could get her a lot of money quickly.

Sadly such jobs came with great risks and she was killed soon after. This left only the brothers left behind, who were forced to sell their house and all they owned. Even the clothes on their backs were taken and they were left with nothing left except for rags and each other. They spent years living in poverty like this until Xue Chang found them and took them in as they reminded him of his relationship with his own brother.

For five years they lived in his villa under the guise of "working for him as guards", yet they were close as family and he treated them better than even some of his cousins. Now Tian Hai was nineteen and Tian Kai was seventeen. They were old and experienced enough to get other jobs, yet they still chose to stick with him.

This made Xue Chang very happy. It was hard to meet such loyal people like them these days. People would usually only stick with you if you were rich or powerful, yet even though they knew they had a chance of dying, they chose to stick with him regardless of the money. Afterall money was useless to you if you were dead.

As such Xue Chang was making serious preparations for them, so that they wouldn't ever regret following him!

Leaving them in the courtyard to rest, Xue Chang made two hole shapes using his fingers and placed them over his eyes. Looking up at the moon hanging high in the air, he nodded to himself excitedly.

"It's about time I return home. I hope mother and father aren't too worried about me!"

As such, Xue Chang quickly turned toward the center of the city where a large palace stood erected high into the sky and ran quickly toward it. This was where his parents were staying. A home larger and more elegant than even the city's mayor own place. Covered in colorful lanterns and gilded statues, it was truly a sight to behold. Especially the entrance, where a large gate around five meters tall stood.

Forged completely out of sun kissed gold, it created a mystical barrier said to bring luck and repel curses for everyone within a ten kilometer radius.

Sun kissed gold was a strange material that would only appear in the mouths of volcanoes. It was formed from the intense yang energy found at the very bottom of most volcanoes lava pools, and could only be collected once every dozen years when the material would break off from the pool's bottom and float up from the lava.

And yang energy was well known for warding off evil energy.

It was made with the sole purpose of trying to help Xue Chang in some way or another. But how could such a simple barrier possibly relieve him of the symptoms of Eternal Ascension. Yet just the thought of it was enough to make Xue Chang giddy with joy.

Sun kissed gold was an extremely rare and expensive material. Yet the fact that his parents were more than willing to pay for such a large amount with minimal chance of it having an effect on him just showed how much they loved and cared for him. Although some would say he was in a very sorry predicament, he didn't think it was so bad.

As long as he and his family were happy, then who cared how bad his condition was?

Though he was sure his parents would disagree.

Walking up to the gate which opened automatically, Xue Chang happily skipped right into it and entered the giant palace. Compared to its extravagant exterior, the inside was quite humble. With very little decorations, gems, or expensive materials. It was very plain and cozy.

Xue Chang's parents weren't the type that enjoyed to show off their wealth like most people did. They would much rather live in a plain and calming cottage than in a fancy castle. The only reason the outside was so extravagant was because the Xue Family cared a lot about their face.

As such, they would not allow a member of their family to live in a plain cottage and demanded the family to decorate the exterior with many things.

But personally, Xue Chang liked the plain interior better. It was more true to their self.

Once he entered the house, he found his parents sitting at their wooden desks and doing paperwork. Although they chose to move and live in Water Cloud City, this place was also part of the Xue Family's territory. As such while relocating here, the family head also gave them responsibilities to take care of.

Although it seemed like a lot of work, Xue Chang knew that the paperwork they were doing was simple. The only reason they were still doing it late at night was because they definitely didn't do any of the work throughout the day, instead procrastinating till the last minute. It was a funny little habit they tended to do.

But even if they didn't do the work themselves, they had plenty of servants sent by the family to do it for them. This was because the family head was well aware of this couple's personality traits. After all, how could he not know of his own daughter and son-in-law's work ethic. The fact they were doing anything right now was because they knew this was usually the time Xue Chang would return home and wanted to show off to him a little.

"Mother, father, I'm back!" Xue Chang entered into the study hall and greeted his parents affectionately while also giving each of them a hug.

"Welcome home Xue Chang. Where you've been the past two hours you little rascal?! You're mother has been worried sick over you." Zhao Wei greeted his son teasingly while ruffling up his hair in return.

Xue Mei simply chuckled and fixed his messy hair which took on the appearance of a crows nest after Zhao Wei's action. patting the dust off of his robes, she looked at him lovingly and chuckled out,

"Weren't you also panicking about how our son wasn't at home yet? In fact I remember a certain someone getting so agitated that they ripped up an important document that-"

"Ahhhhhhhahahaha!" Xu Mei's words were quickly interrupted by Zhao Wei's nervous laughter.

And if anyone were to enter the room right at that moment, they would find the family standing there with a warm atmosphere surrounding them as they joked around.

Just then, Xue Mei quickly said while putting down her pen, "I just remembered, your uncle Wu said that he had just finished a present for you. You should go meet up with him in his office."

Hearing these words, Xue Chang couldn't keep an eager expression off his face. And without another word he ran off to Wu Jie's office to see what was happening. To the great shock of Xue Mei and sadness of Zhao Wei.

"My own flesh and blood cares more about a gift from my best friend and brother more than me..."

Xue Mei just shrugged her shoulder while saying "At least he gave me a hug..."

These were not the words Zhao Wei wanted to hear.