Since he was five, the only friend he was able to make, was the third miss of the Jiang Family, Jiang Rou Xuan. Jiang Rou Xuan was the only person that did not judge Li Tian for his poor talents and seen the bubbly personality in him. The two children of the same age had went to the same learning academy and studied together. There were many times that you would see Rou Xuan teaching her classmate. Even when Rou Xuan was found out to be born with a 1 in a billion chance body, the Pure Yin Body, she did not change her views of Li Tian. Instead, it was Rou Xuan that would protect Li Tian from the bullies in the academy.
It was all these reasons that Li Tian trusted Rou Xuan with everything. He did not have an inch of doubt in his heart. Everyday when they were in the academy, Li Tian would come look for her to play with her. He would tell Rou Xuan about what happens at home and Rou Xuan would advice. A few days back, Li Tian had broke the news to her about his upcoming trip with his parents to Prosperity City. Of course, being the smart and talented child, Rou Xuan thought it was rather fishy that Li Tian's parents would suddenly take him with them.
"Li Tian, I don't think that it is a good idea for you to go to Prosperity City with your parents." Rou Xuan spoke out worryingly while walking with the boy home.
"Why not?" Li Tian cocked his head to the side, confused.
"Well, your parents never really cared about you. Why would they suddenly want to take you out to experience the outside world?" Rou Xuan continued speaking, seeing that Li Tian was still confused, "You have to be careful when you follow them out. Okay? Make sure you stick with them wherever they go. Understand little brother Li Tian?"
Rou Xuan stuck her pinky finger out, signalling for Li Tian to do so. To the young children, a pinky promise was sacred and breaking it was tantamount to breaking their friendship. Seeing how Rou Xuan was taking this so seriously, Li Tian took her words to heart and pinky promised with her. The saddest part about all of this was that Li Tian did not even last till day two before being shrugged off by his parents.
In the market space, Li Tian walked around comfortably in the crowd. He wasn't afraid of the crowd as he squeezed into a group of people that were gathered around an open stall. He was always curious of everything and would like to join in on the fun. It was only when Li Tian's stomach started to grumble, did he head for a noodles stall to have his breakfast. While paying up front to the stall owner, Li Tian's clumsy hands had accidentally dropped his pouch of coins on the ground. There were many onlookers that noticed the vast amount of gold coins on the boy, one group in particular started to harvest a dirty plan.
The piping hot bowl of noodles was served to the little boy. He held onto the wooden tray tightly as he walked towards an empty table. Just as he was moving forward, an adult man had cut in front of Li Tian, resulting in the young child to spill the bowl of noodles on the man.
"Hey! How dare you dirty my clothes!" The man part of the devious group from before. He shouted out, looking all angry at the boy.
"I.. I am sorry.." Li Tian was spooked by the tough-looking stranger. The young boy held his hands together, bowing apologetically.
"What can a sorry do huh? Pay up for dirtying my robes! This robe of mine was made out of the silk from an imperial silk worm! It was worth tens of thousands of gold coins!" The man lied about his material of his brown robe.
Obviously, the scammer would not be wearing a robe made out of the silk from an imperial silk worm. Only very powerful martial cultivators were able to afford it, let alone a gangster in a small city. However, this would not be known to the child with no common sense. Even the onlookers that knew it was a scam, did not dare to stand up to the gang members. After all, the normal civilians too were powerless against them.
"I'm sorry. I do not have that much money to pay for your robes. Please forgive me." Li Tian continued to bow when he realised he lack the money to pay for the 'expensive' robes. He didn't know what to do.
"Then, if you do not want to get hurt by me, pay up using however much you have on you!" The gang member stuck out his hand, looking down menacingly at Li Tian.
"O..Okay."
Obediently, he did as he told. Li Tian instantly went from having a large sum of money to broke. In his heart, he was thankful that he even made it out in one piece. What he did not know was that he had been outright scammed off his own money.
Fast forward back to the present, Li Tian had lived off the leftover food from restaurants. Typically, the employees of the store would chase away random vagrants, but when they noticed it was a little child, they allowed him to eat the leftovers. Some kind restaurant owners would even separate the food bag from the general waste bag for Li Tian. In this past week, Li Tian still held onto the notion that his parents were looking for him in this city.
He waited in the alleyway by the inn, sleeping through cold nights in a rice sack. Luckily for the boy, it is summer and so, he has not freeze to death yet. The day after a week had arrive and Li Tian was entangled in another problem. In the middle of the night, when Li Tian was all huddled up in his rice sack, clamouring of rooftop tiles could be heard from above. Li Tian woke up from his half sleep state, confused on why there were sounds from the roof.