In a certain forest, three men with the look of bandits seemed to be looking for something ... or someone.
One bandit held a knife in his hand. Another one owned several scars all over his face, and the last one had muscles strong enough to strangle a cow with his bare hands.
"Where are they?" Scar started saying.
Knife was getting irritated so he shouted towards the forest: "Hmph!! Don't let me find you, or else you're dead!!"
Yet no one responded to him.
Muscle changed the subject and asked: "That damned kid with blue eyes, why is he so strong when he's not even a cultivator yet? Is there something wrong with him?"
"Yeah, he beat two guys in our gang who are already cultivators. How's that even possible?" Scar agreed.
Knife was the only one who knew the answer. He replied while pointing his knife upward: "Don't you know ... he's God's son?"
Once this question was asked, the other two looked at each other in confusion, then Muscle asked back: "Which God?"
Knife, who previously raised the "God" topic, only spread his hand and wryly smiled before the other two came to realization and exclaimed in unison: "That God?!!"
"Yeah, that God." Knife confirmed.
With the face of realization, Muscle noddingly said: "So, that's why he's strong. Even so, he can't possibly defeat us, right?"
Scar, who was the weakest one of the three, warned his mates with a trembling voice: "But will it be okay hunting God's son? You know, what if he's back?" He shuddered at the thought. They all remembered the stories, the power that could wipe them out in an instant.
The word "fear" could easily be read from his face.
"Ptooey!! You coward!! That God has been gone for a few years without showing his face even once. Who knows? Maybe he had already left for good." Muscle arrogantly said after he spat at his friend, then he continued: "It doesn't matter which God's son he is. It's unforgivable stealing Big Boss's toy."
Knife approved: "Yeah, that outsider shouldn't be living among us. Didn't God say that no outsider could come into this city?"
Although that was not what God actually said, getting persuaded by his two friends, Scar nodded and agreed as he needed to carry out his task lest he wished to have a hard time living within the city. He tried to push the fear out of his mind. He had to.
Upon reaching a conclusion, three of them began their search once more.
After a few hours, the bandits found a broken hut amongst the trees. They subsequently entered the hut to investigate.
Three of them used their knife and punch to destroy everything in the place because they did not want to leave any stone unturned. Nevertheless, they could not find what they were looking for.
As the bandits prepared to leave the hut, suddenly ...
"Khoff. Khak. Khak."
Consecutive coughs were heard from the hut's attic that seemed to only fit a family of mice.
"Found you!!" The tallest one amongst the three bandits, Muscle, roared and threw a punch upwards.
Once the ceiling was destroyed, three boys and one girl around seven years old with eyes of different shades fell down from the attic. They appeared ragged and bruised. Especially the boy with yellow irises, he was full of wounds and injuries. The coughs earlier were due to him throwing up his blood.
"Hahaha!! So, here you are!!" Knife laughed.
Muscle picked Yellow up with one hand: "Come here, you monkey!! We haven't had enough fun yet!!"
"Put him down, or I'll smash that hand to pieces!!" The boy with blue eyes immediately got up and commanded while pointing his finger at the three bandits. His heart pounded with anger and fear. He couldn't let them hurt the poor guy any more than they already had.
Scar disdainfully sniggered: "With your meager strength? Heh. This place is too cramped. Come outside and try, kid."
The bandit gang left the hut together with Yellow but did not leave. They waited in front of the hut for their challenger to come out and fight them.
"Brother Ying" Blue looked at another boy who possessed red eyes and said with his overflowing determination: "To the death!!" His resolve was unshakable. They had trained for this, and he wouldn't let his friends down.
Following that, he charged out while howling his battle cry.
Red followed his friend out of the hut while also screaming. He felt the familiar rush of adrenaline. This was what they trained for, what they had sworn to protect.
Both boys did not wait for any more backups as they directly charged toward the bandits to engage in a fight with them.
The three bandits snickered at these boys' arrogance. Not only were their cultivations stronger, but they were also outnumbering the kids. It was too condescending for them to fight the kids three-on-two, so Muscle, who was holding Yellow and happened to be the strongest one in the group, told his two friends to hurry up and get rid of two other kids.
Alas, even in a two-on-two fight, after a few moves, both boys were not looking good. They were taking one hit after another.
Although these boys were strong enough to take down the weakest ones of cultivators, they were still just kids with an unawakening bloodline. There was no way they could defeat cultivators with the cultivation levels much higher than them like these bandits.
And because Red was weaker, Blue had to flash in from time to time to take the damage from one bandit while fighting another. In the end, due to their difference in strength, they were getting beaten quite badly.
Despite that, these boys could still hold their ground for quite a while fighting the overpowering bandits. If they were other kids, they would have been killed by a couple of blows. This already showed how extraordinary they were. Red felt his strength waning but refused to give up. He couldn't let Luotian down. Not now.
As for Yellow, he was too injured to struggle from Muscle's hand, let alone put up any fight.
"Hahaha!! Let me see which mouth spouted bullshit just now!!" Scar laughed before he slapped Blue flying. Blood completely soaked the boy's mouth.
"Brother Feng!!" Red hollered.
"You are not getting any better!!" Knife kneed at Red's stomach until the kid vomited all the food he ate earlier today.
Knife grinned as he took out his sharp weapon: "Hmph!! We have had enough fun today. Let's finish this."
However, at the moment Knife was about to perform the execution on Red, a girl with green eyes rushed up to him: "STOP!!"
Muscle chuckled and asked: "Hehe, why should we listen to you, Little Miss?"
Green took out a token out of her bag with her trembling hands and showed it to them. The token was made of a refined jade and carved into a peacock shape spreading its feather tails.
The smirks the three bandits were wearing a moment ago disappeared as quickly as lightning and was replaced by pale complexions as white as a sheet of paper.
All bandits knelt down in front of the girl, as it happened that the token was something they would never have the gut to cross.
"You are the city lord's daughter!?" Scar fearfully asked.
Green quietly nodded.
"We're sorry!! Please have mercy!!" The gang began to kowtow and apologize to the girl. They did not fear the so-called God because this God was no longer here. However, the city lord was still present and ruling the city. Offending his daughter was the same as committing suicide. Even their boss would not be spared. She felt a mix of relief and guilt. She hated using her father's token but had no other choice.
Green declared: "Go back and tell that big bad guy not to ever come in front of us again!!"
"Yes, yes." The bandits left before the rest of the boys even had the chance to say anything to them.
Once the youths got together, Blue sternly reprimanded the girl, not caring about the blood slithering out from his mouth: "Yue'er, I said don't use the token. How can we prove ourselves with that?" He knew she meant well, but relying on the token felt like a failure.
"But ... But you all were ... Waaah!!" Not knowing what to say, the girl cried out loud.
Red collected himself with much effort and teased: "Brother Feng, you're making her cry again."
"W-What? Ah ... Yue'er, I didn't mean it. Sorry. And thank you for saving us." Blue realized his mistake and quickly consoled the girl.
Green stopped crying, but she was still sobbing a little.
Blue turned to Yellow: "Are you alright, Wuji?"
"I'm—Khak!! Khak!! Khak!! I'm okay." Yellow answered with his weak voice after a few coughs. He felt the pain in his chest, but he forced a smile. He couldn't let them worry about him.
"We should take him to your place, Sister Mei." Red suggested.
Blue assented: "I agree, but let's take a rest first. Those bastards may change their minds and wait for us at the forest's exit. It's better to recuperate just in case."
Following that, they all re-entered the hut to recover.
A while later, an idea flashed across those blue eyes before the leading youth started speaking: "I have a proposal. Do you guys want to hear?"
The rest jerked their heads up and nodded.
"From today onwards, let's all become sworn brothers and sister!!" Blue proposed. He felt a surge of pride and hope. They were stronger together.
Red and Yellow exchanged glances and nodded, only Green was hesitating, prompting Blue to joke: "What's wrong, Yue'er? Don't want to have me as Big Bro?"
"Who would want to call you Big Bro, Luotian?" Green snorted.
Not minding the comment in the slightest, Blue confidently said: "Why not? I'm this strong already, even before awakening!!"
"I have no objection to this proposal." Yellow interjected.
"Me too." Red followed.
"Well?" Blue asked as he looked at the girl.
Green annoyingly gave up and agreed: "Fine!!"
"Hahaha, good!! Then, let's swear our siblinghood on the will to protect." Blue laughed in joy and proposed another suggestion that confused the group.
"What's the will to protect?" Yellow asked.
"It's something my father said to me before he left." Blue smiled then proudly replied before he recounted one of his most memorable memories.
///FLASHBACK///
Facing a vast ocean on top of a cliff, two figures, one big and one small, stood side by side.
A smaller version of Blue said: "Someday, Father. I will protect this city and everyone in it with my own strength!! Just like you, I will shut all bad guys up only by speaking."
"Hahaha." Father heartily laughed. His face was full of happiness as he stroked his child's head: "It's good to hear that you have such ambition. But remember one thing, Tian'er."
"What is it, Father?" Blue asked.
"A will to protect." Father answered.
"A will to protect?" Blue asked again with a perplexed look.
Blue's father looked at the ocean. His eyes profoundly flashed as he started explaining: "That's right. It is true that you cannot protect anyone if you are weak. But whether you are weak or strong depends on your will to protect. As long as your will to protect stays strong, you will never see your loved ones die. However, the moment you give up your will to protect to whatever, maybe fear, or maybe greed. Right then, you will lose everything you hold dear, or even yourself, as a result of your lack of will."
Father turned to his son and looked into his eyes: "So Tian'er. Always stay strong. Uphold your will to protect and protect everyone you love with your life on the line."
"Yes, Father. I will." Blue answered without hesitation.
Seeing his son's firm resolve, Father smiled and looked back upon the ocean as he softly mumbled: "It's good as long as you understand."
///BACK TO NOW///
The three listened to the story with glittering eyes.
Because of the feat Blue's father had done for the city, everyone in it knew and regarded him as a God.
And that was no exception for every child within the city. Every story about this God was like a legend that they would proudly retell to their friends over and over again.
"Well?" Blue asked again.
The rest nodded in unison. They went out of the hut and lined up, kneeling while facing the sky.
Blue started shouting: "Let Heaven be the witness as I, Feng Luotian, will be taking Ying Lizhua, Sun Wuji, and Mei Yue'er as my brothers and sister today. For as long as I live, I will uphold my will to protect. Neither fear nor greed, and not even death can shake this will!! I will never let these brothers and sister of mine have their last breaths before me!! If I renege on this oath, may Heaven condemn me with thousands of tribulations!!"
The rest followed suit as they roared their heart out.