Chapter Five.Five: A Chance. (Kai's POV)

At her Master's behest, Miss Xinyi ushered us into our home with a confident smile as she assured my mother that we would be safe from the ghouls and that they would keep an eye out for my father. I silently cursed whoever kept my father from returning home before dark. My father had the unfortunate duty of overseeing the villagers, which he was nominated for by the oppressed residents.

From dawn to dusk, my father was out working, either tending to the fields, hunting small critters for his family, or listening to grievances and attempting to find a way to fix the village's economy. It was a challenging task made even more complicated as he had to hide it from the Village Lord and his goons. If that bastard found out the villagers were storing extra money or planning a revolt, his father would be dead.

Gritting my teeth, I shuffled over to one of our few windows, taking care to act like my ankle was still bruised from the earlier beating. For as long as I could remember, my wounds healed quickly, some taking a day to recover while others took an hour. It was strange, but I couldn't dwell on it. There were plenty of weird things about me that I couldn't explain; perhaps it was one of the reasons I was left to drift along the river until my mother found me.

Leaning against the wall, I peered out the window to catch sight of Miss Xinyi's Master. Master Lan was nothing like what I expected when she told us about him. From the twitch of Master Lan's eyebrow, it was likely she did it to tease him. Their Master Disciple relationship made me smile, but there was this underlying envy as I wished I could have a relationship like that. Maybe if the issue with the Village Lord was dealt with, he would be free to make friends with people his own age.

The forest Master Lan stood before was affectionately dubbed the Bloody Forest by the locals, on account that whoever went into the forest was never seen again, and sometimes there would be blood that tainted the small river on the edge of town.

My younger brother, Jingyi, stood at the opposite side of the room with his tiny hands gripping the windowsill and standing on his toes to look outside as he patiently waited for our father to return home.

As the moon began its ascent into the night sky, the house's atmosphere changed from within and out. Like a storm was brewing, this tense feeling always came before the ghouls set out, and my father was still nowhere in sight. It was plain that my mother was worried about this, but she wouldn't say anything and just silently sat by the fire watching over the boiling stew.

Just for a moment, I looked away from watching the pair before I heard some low guttural growls from behind. Looking out the window, I could see a small group of ghouls that had rushed Miss Xinyi, and I couldn't help but marvel at the sight of her taking on three ghouls all by herself. Her sword danced in the moonlight, effectively beheading the ghouls before she moved on to the next group.

I shifted my glance to Master Lan, the only one of the two who did not move to engage the ghouls at first. I could eye the Master from this distance, studying his figure. Sometimes merchants would come through the village bringing stories of the Brilliant Flowering White Jasmine Sect and, more importantly, the Forest Monarch that lived within the Sect's walls. They described the Forest Monarch as an Immortal beauty carved from ice with a presence that could chill even the best Netherflame from the Demonic sects.

As I gazed at the Forest Monarch, I could understand how people could get that perception of him when they first met him, but to me, he didn't seem as distant as they described. I couldn't help but wonder if it was extreme emotions that could crack that glacial countenance. The thought made me smile. If he wasn't a Master and Monarch, I would've enjoyed poking and prodding him to see what would happen.

I couldn't help the wistful sight that escaped me as I thought how cruel the Gods were to make me this scrawny. Though I attributed that to our poor diet. If our Lord was replaced, I could see that there would be plenty of wealth in the village to improve our lives. If I wasn't skin and bones, then maybe I could have gone back with Master Lan and studied under him.

Such thoughts were a waste. As long as things stayed as they were, no one would get better, and people would keep dying from disease or starvation.

I shook myself from my reverie just in time to see Master Lan begin his fight back. It didn't seem that he was troubled about the number of ghouls coming out of the forest now, more like he was irritated by them. Then, with just imbuing his Qi into the sword at his hip, Master Lan's sword rang out of its sheath and hovered next to him for a moment. A simple, silent command was made by just moving his delicate fingers, and his glowing sword cleaved its way through the ghouls.

With his sword coming back to idle at his side, Master Lan extended his hand out and imbued his fan with Qi as well. Then, with graceful twists of his hand, he sent wave upon wave of the fan's aura at the advancing ghouls, making quick work of the lesser ghouls and seriously damaging some of the larger fiends that stayed to the back.

So enraptured with the lithe Master was I that when the voice of my younger brother rang through the night, my blood went cold. I hadn't noticed that he left the house, nor did I catch the sight of my father approaching with a torch in hand. When I heard my brother call out, I sprang from my place with my mother close on my heels.

"Jingyi!" I called out in a panic, with my voice overlapping my father's. I quickly glanced towards the Master and disciple duo. Miss Xinyi was too far away to have noticed, but Master Lan had seen the pair, and his attention split from the ghouls he was fighting to my younger brother and father. Within a moment of his lapse in concentration on the ghouls, one had separated from the pack, while another had nearly bitten into his arm.

I knew that Master Lan was working quickly to eliminate the ghouls that surrounded him, but he wouldn't make it in time to defend my family. So I had no choice but to try and fend off the ghoul that approached us until the Master could finish it off himself.

I quickly spotted the branch I often used as a makeshift sword when playing with Jingyi and scooped it up. I didn't think I would make a dent, but I also didn't expect the ghoul in front of me to pause as well.

It didn't last for long, as it continued its advance, deadset to taste my brother and father's flesh. I haphazardly swung the branch at the ghoul, barely deterring it from its chosen course. After a few more swings that counted for nothing against this fiend, I began to feel panic and anger swell in my chest, and I charged at the ghoul as my father clutched my brother to his chest.

My thoughts were a jumble as I drove my branch towards the creature's torso. Why did the ghouls decide to attack us tonight? They usually gave our home a wide berth if we stayed inside, and everyone was too terrified to give it much thought as to why. We were just thankful to live through another night. Why did they have to keep my father for so long? I couldn't put the finger on who to blame for my family being in danger like this. All I could feel was this sheer panic and bottomless anger that surged through me like a tidal wave. It wasn't fair.

Before I knew it, I was close up and personal with the ghoul with the tip of my branch against its chest. Within the next moment, the slimy feeling of thick black blood coated my hands as my makeshift sword pierced the ghoul's torso, impaling its twitching body. The shock of what I just accomplished gave me pause, but so did the odd aura surrounding my hands and 'sword.' I've seen it a few times before, but seeing it now, something clicked within me. This bloody aura only revealed itself when I felt cornered or full of negative feelings. I had no absolute control of it, and that terrified me.

I stepped away from the ghoul as I felt a pair of chilly eyes on me. Master Lan stood in the same spot I had last seen him, gazing at me with an incomprehensible look before he slowly lowered his head and turned on his heel to deal with the remaining ghouls. I was left curious by his gaze, but I needed to get the blood off my hands and my family back in the house first.

I gave my mother a shaky smile, hoping that I didn't give away too much of my inner turmoil as I led my wailing brother and father back into the house. She didn't say anything if she noticed and instead took me into her arms in a warm embrace. No matter what happened, she seemed to accept it all in stride, as did my father.

Some hours passed, and I was finally able to rid my hands of the disgusting rotting-corpse smell while Master Lan and Miss Xinyi finished up the last of the ghouls. Leaning against the house's wall, I went over yesterday in my head. Too much happened in one day, and recalling it made my head hurt.

"Brother Kai," Master Lan's composed voice called from outside the house, startling me out of my reverie. It was my first time being called brother by someone other than Jingyi, and the way he said it made me wonder if he was trying to imitate what I said yesterday. It made him seem a little awkward, and I enjoyed that enough to smile as I walked away from the house.

The scent of Jasmine drifted towards me from Master Lan as we walked further away from the house. It was a scent I noticed before when he had carried me back home, though it was an embarrassing memory that I couldn't help but silently sigh at.

Unable to keep the silence, I respectfully asked, "What is it you wish to talk about, Master Lan?" Obviously, he wanted to talk about what happened with the ghoul, but I didn't know how much I could say. Honestly, I didn't know much about auras, to begin with.

"Have you always been able to do that?" He asked in his usual calm tone without looking at me, but the snap of the fan against his pam seemed to say that he was agitated by something.

Deciding it would be better to respond thoughtfully instead of coming up with a flimsy lie, I replied, "I've used it a few times. It seems to only emerge when I'm panicked, though, which makes me worried that I might accidentally lash out against my family with it." It did worry me, especially if this black aura only came out during negative emotions like I thought.

I expected some words of wisdom or a discussion on what I could do, but the response I got instead shocked me to my core. "Come with me. Come with me and become my disciple. I will teach you how to properly use your Qi."

He said it so sincerely that I couldn't help but be entranced by the Master. Me? Become the disciple of the Master that became a Monarch at the age of 18? It was something that I never even dreamed of. I couldn't dream of it. What Sect or Master would want me with my defective aura and emaciated self? However, Master Lan said that he wanted me.

I pursed my lips into a thin line as I thought about it. This was a chance for me to make something of myself. An opportunity for me to help my family and repay the kindness of Master Lan and Miss Xinyi. This was a chance for me to get stronger. Could I do it?