Chapter 32: The Only Chance.

That morning was like any other for Xue; he woke up and felt hungry.

It had long since gone past being a crippling pain of hunger; it had subsided since his body realized that even if it made the pains of hunger stronger, all that it would have been able to accomplish was get in the way of actually getting any food.

So he stood up from the decrepit shack that he'd been allowed to keep, turned his head, and looked at his sister, her stature smaller than his, her body a little fuller, and her bones having a little more meat on them.

Xue smiled, his empty lips showing as much happiness as they possibly could, so he stood up and ignored his body, as it was screaming at him to eat, and eat was exactly what he wanted to do as well.

He got close to his sleeping sister and gently shook her, saying, "Zhu, wake up."

She groaned lightly and opened her eyes, clear sleepiness still in her eyes. "Good morning, Xue."

"I'm going out to find some food, okay?" He said it lightly.

Her eyes widened a little as she furrowed her eyebrows and protested, "But you went yesterday too! It's my turn today."

He smiled lightly and put his hand on her arm, causing her to sharply inhale in pain. "See? You can't do anything like this; you'll make up for it when you get better, okay?"

She pouted but still nodded, saying, "Alright, be safe and stay away from anyone that looks strong."

"I know, I won't get on the nerves of some cultivator," he chuckled. "Your arm taught me that."

"Hey!" She protested at his laughing at her and just lightly punched him with her good arm, not really intending to cause him any actual pain.

"Ow, you're so strong; please, mighty ancestor, spare this pitiful mortal!" He feigned being hurt, while it was obvious that the punch hadn't held any power at all.

"No!" She chuckled back at his obvious exaggeration: "You'll have to beg for forgiveness by bringing me food; now go, my little mortal!"

He stood up and bowed down to his 'ancestor, saying, Yes, mighty one, I'll be going right now!"

Her fake haughty expression on her face melted away after a chuckle as she once again made her worries clear, her eyes shining. "I'm not kidding; stay safe, Xue; I feel that something will happen today."

"Sure, sure." He replied, dismissing her words as pointless worries. He had been scavenging for food for years by now, and he had learned most of the tricks that came with the job.

Crouching in the dark of an alleyway, Xue was waiting, stalking his prey, waiting for the shopkeeper to lower his guard, and when the moment finally came, he pounced.

He grabbed a small fruit and escaped, hastily making his retreat unseen. At the successful haul, he mumbled to himself, "Good, I feel that today will be a good day..."

He put the small red fruit, whose name he didn't know, into the satchel hung on his shoulder and left the area, searching for another possible prey.

An hour went by before he finally came by what could possibly be a big fish, and so he eyed his prey, a short, fat kid walking by the streets on his own.

His clothes weren't of high quality, but they had no holes. There were some ornaments here and there, but they only looked expansive; they held no actual trace of Profound energy. Xue could only conclude that this wasn't a cultivator but the child of a mortal rich family.

It was also made more clear since the kid was alone, without any obvious guard. Xue spent the next five minutes searching for any possible sign of a trap, but there were none.

The kid just kept bouncing around without a care in the world, walking slowly as if he had no concern in the world, no need to rush, and no risk of not having dinner that night.

Xue gritted his teeth as his eyes sparkled with an unusual glint. That's the future he wanted, for both himself and his sister; he didn't want anybody to ever hurt her again, nor to be forced to steal from others just to survive.

This wasn't right; he knew that; his sister knew that; but it was the only way that they knew about it. He knew that eventually he might steal from the wrong person, that a cultivator might wake up on the wrong side of their cave, or wherever they slept, and decide to just put an end to the pest that crossed the road at the wrong time.

He knew that the kid whose purse he had snatched might have been a cultivator, someone with a background that might have killed him just for the sin of looking at their scion with evil intent.

But this was the only way he knew to survive and live another day, so he soon disappeared down the streets, his satchel heavier than ever.

His face held a smile; he finally could add something else to the stash of money they kept for the hard times, when they couldn't find anything to steal.

The smile on his face was radiant, and the happiness had clouded his mind. The successful heist had raised his confidence a little too much, so he let his guard down.

Which was exactly why, when his stomach rumbled, he decided to steal a loaf of bread—a small thing, really, nothing of real importance, nothing that he couldn't just pay for with his new money.

He saw the owner of the stall looking away, talking with another person, so Xue didn't think twice about just grabbing the small loaf and walking away as if nothing had happened.

But it was a mistake; his arm was grabbed. In an instant, he turned around, fear gripping his arm, and the stall owner, the man he had thought was just a harmless older man, gripped his arm, moving at a speed that the child couldn't react to. "Where do you think you're going, vermin?"

Xue's heart fell; he saw his life flash before his eyes. "Let me go! I didn't do anything!"

"You little bastard, I saw you stealing; I will teach you not to steal from your betters." Old Meng replied.

The man had never shown any signs of being a cultivator; Xue had even stolen from him once or twice in the past, so why did he have to find out this time?

Blood was drained from the child's face; his eyes widened and his mouth dried up. He looked at any possible way to escape, but there was none; he knew that he couldn't escape a cultivator.

"Hey there, don't touch the kid; I'll pay for whatever he took."

The savior appeared like lightning on a clear day, out of nowhere.

His clothes were clean, spotless even, different from those of the people he saw usually but also different from those the cultivators used.

They used colorful robes, especially the ones from the powerful sects. The man, who looked to be at most five years older than Xue himself, wore a simple white shirt and black pants, made from a fabric that Xue couldn't identify.

He held himself with an air of calm confidence; his back was straight and his hair was short, which was somewhat unusual for cultivators, but Xue knew it; there was absolutely no doubt the man in front of him was a cultivator.

It took but an instant to realize so, especially from the literal wave of pure power that the man had emitted to crush the Old Meng; it was so concentrated that Xue could almost see it with his bare eyes.

It was deserved; Old Meng had threatened the man after all, thinking him another mere thief; it was only expected that he would be killed for such an affront to a so clearly superior cultivator.

But what was expected didn't happen: "Stand up and just take the money."

A cyan coin, worth fifty of the loaves of bread that Xue had stolen.

This man had saved him, paying with something that could ensure his and his sister's survival for weeks, and he had done so as if it wasn't worth anything to him, and maybe that was exactly the case.

It was a cultivator after all—a powerful one.

They were the ones who ruled the land, the ones who took all of the resources, the ones that never had to fear hunger, the ones that died not of hunger, not of age, but always at the hands of another cultivator.

The man held out a hand, a gesture that Xue instinctively took out of reverence for the very ideal that he strived for, if only he knew how to achieve it. "You're okay, kid?"

His voice was soft, and his eyes filled with kindness and pain as he looked at the child, but Xue couldn't understand: where did that pain come from?

"You don't look much older than I am." Xue replied, internally cursing at himself for never trying to learn the manners cultivators used among each other.

After all, why should he learn them? He was nothing but a pest that lived in an entirely different world from them; it would be akin to an ant learning the customs of humans in its spare time instead of focusing on what was important: to find food and survive another day.

"Sometimes, looks don't matter; you're a kid to me." The man replied, seemingly not taking offense but actually smiling as he held up a pouch, "Take this; don't steal for a while; maybe use it to get a better outfit and find a job; I can't help you more than this."

Xue took the pouch in complete disbelief. He rapidly opened it, half believing it to be filled with stones in what would be a cruel joke, but no.

It was filled with the same kind of coin the man had given away earlier; Xue didn't know how many there were, just that it was more than enough for him and his sister to survive for probably a year.

And it was given without a second thought.

"Hey, what is your name?" The boy asked by pure instinct; the moment he saw the cultivator turn to leave, he knew that he would never have another chance to form a connection with such a person.

"I'm the Doctor; I left my name behind long ago." The man stopped, his unusual words taking nothing away from Xue's joy. The man had stopped and turned back; that was all that mattered.

"Teach me how to be strong like you." Xue implored, the words coming out of his mouth as if by force. He knew that it was a question that might get him killed if asked to the wrong person, or crippled at least, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

The cultivator tried denying being one at first, the reason for which Xue couldn't begin to understand, but at the child's insistence, the man sighed, "Why do you want to be strong?"

It was a question that sparked hope in the heart of the street rat; he felt it; something in his heart was pushing him to reply; he felt that this might be the exact moment his life was going to change for the better; something inside of him was screaming as much.

"I don't want to be hungry again, and they told me cultivators don't get hungry and always have a lot of food."

The many tales that the children that lived on the streets told him were cautionary tales that shared the wisdom to survive in inhospitable places and the rules they all needed to follow.

Don't bother cultivators; don't rob cultivators; don't look at cultivators; those were just some of the rules, but the tales connected to these rules gave every child without a home hope to one day join the ranks of the immortals.

A long silence followed, with the man looking directly into the eyes of the child, seemingly looking directly into his soul, to judge the worthiness of his interlocutor and see if he was worthy of acknowledgment.

"I'm leaving New Moon City right now; I can teach you to cultivate and more, but are you willing to leave with me?"

The gates of Heaven opened right there and then. Xue's eyes sparkled as his heart was filled with the greatest happiness he could possibly feel. "Yes, Master!"

he sighed.

hello, sorry for not updating in the last two days, i've been feeling like shit, hope you're liking the story and think about leaving a review.

Btw, gimme them stones.

Love all of you, whichever gender you are.