Looking Down On

Mo Qingxian gazed at the scar, which, despite being nearly as large as his back, was quite similar to the crescent moon.

It was neat, showcasing how sharp the weapon that cut through him was. 

Extremely curious, she crawled toward him, lifted her hand, and was about to touch the scar when Xu Kai turned his head.

"...!" 

Her eyes widen, and she falls to her buttocks. Embarrassed, she didn't know what to do or how to explain the current situation.

Xu Kai turned toward her. He got to his feet and stretched his hand for her to grab onto. "Are you hungry?" 

Mo Qingxian nodded heavily. Seeing the twelve year-old girl act so cutely made Xu Kai smile subconsciously.

Mo Qingxian was so innocent that he began to see the mainland as a paradise. However, his encounter with the esteemed guest flashed through his mind, instantly ruining that thought.

'It seems like Qing Xian is not like everyone on the mainland.' 

"Come, let's go eat. But first…" Xu Kai took her outside, struggling for some time before he broke the lock. To break this seemingly ordinary lock, he had to use all his power! 

The moment he broke it, Mo Qingxian rubbed her neck and gazed at him gratefully. Xu Kai patted her head.

Holding her small hand, he led her through the forest to Fatty Tian's shop. The moment both of them sat down, the other customers gazed at them.

"Father, that girl is pretty," a fifteen-year-old boy said to his father. "Is she a fairy?" 

The father and other adults chuckled while Mo Qingxian shifted closer to Xu Kai, feeling shy of the attention she received.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here," he comforted her, then turned to Fatty Tian. As he dished a meal for the father-and-son duo, the man backed them.

"Fatty Tian, we'll each take two bowls first."

Everyone sucked in cold air. "First." For Xu Kai to add that word, he and the little girl planned to eat more.

The boy, who said Mo Qingxian was pretty, rubbed his eyes properly as he saw what he could never unsee.

After breakfast, Xu Kai led Mo Qingxian back to their home and left for the Emerald Mountain for training. 

Mo Qingxian looked at the water and closed her eyes. As her eyelids trembled, ice began to spread from the shores into the sea! 

The lower half of her hair gained a beautiful blue color. Some time later, the ice receded and her eyes opened.

Sweat beads coated her temples. Blinking her large eyes twice, she looked around, expecting evidence of what she felt within her but the shores remained the same.

****

Emerald Mountain.

The training ground had lots of sounds, some from older martial arts practitioners who were some distance away from the youths, and the rest from grumbling youths.

Lan was too harsh on them.

After he scanned the fourteen youths, Shui Long Yan making them fourteen, he noticed one person still wasn't here.

He frowned. His displeasure was apparent.

"Where is Xu Kai?" 

The youths looked at Lan strangely. "Isn't it obvious that he has quit?" Cheng Yi replied.

"Uncle Lan, Xu Kai, is a sleeper. Without a talent, he can't even break into the Marrow Cleansing Realm. I'm not sure what kind of luck he's been experiencing lately, but it won't persist forever. Now that he has quit, that jade tag will be taken from him," one of the Cheng family youth said with an expression that said everything he said was a fact.

Others nodded.

"If he has indeed quit, he doesn't deserve to retain the jade tag," said Shui Long Yan. While others trained, he sat on a boulder and crossed his arms.

"Who doesn't deserve the jade tag?" A young voice rang out, causing the fourteen youths and Uncle Lan to look at the entrance.

Xu Kai swiftly ascended the steps and stood on the flat platform. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the thick Spirit Qi gathered by the mountain's Feng shui.

Instantaneously, he received a fierce glare from Lan. 

"Join the line," Lan said sternly.

Quickly joining the line, Xu Kai began to practice the "Raging Tide Technique" for a short time before Lan brought them to the area where the older practitioners were.

All of them were men, as women rarely practice martial arts because they lack the wealth to keep their bodies in check.

Only females from lineage families could afford to learn martial arts.

"Xu Kai, you've been lazing about with your training. Lift that stone; I want to see if you're able that you chose when and what time to come."

Lan's cold words landed on Xu Kai.

Faced with no other choice, he grabs a 60-kg stone as big as his torso, widens his legs, and presses his toes against the firm ground.

Everyone was watching—his peers and the adults.

"AHH!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, lifted the stone to his chest level, and began to tremble.

"Pfft! It's only 60 kg, and he can't even lift it above his head! A youth mocked.

Even the adults frowned. Almost everyone, with the exception of Xu Kai, had forgotten that the other youths had used pills to accelerate their progress. This is why the weakest among them was in the Marrow Cleansing Realm's initial stage.

Xu Kai clenched his teeth tightly and finally raised the stone above his head, but he needed Lan's assistance to drop it.

"What a joke."

"The esteemed guest will be disgusted to see him with a jade tag."

Shui Long Yan frowned deeply. "How did he kill that young Skylark?" 

"If that's all you can do, it's better you leave. Staying will only affect your mental and physical state." Shui Mei Er advised, but many could see the despiteful glint in her eyes.

She couldn't see how Xu Kai was the same man who stole from her family's manor. At this point, she wasn't sure if Xu Kai was the thief.

"It's clear he's unworthy of the jade tag! Remove the jade tag from him, or else he'll sully the faces of the Elders when the esteemed guest arrives!" Cheng Yi sneered.