Sunlight covered the hills and valleys, marking another busy day for a small village in the Northern kingdom. This landscape was widely known as the "Yulong village," since its eastern territory was marked by the famous Yulong forest.
A group of heavy workers was working on this border that day as usual. The surrounding air filled with complaints, hopes, and of course, the braggings of younglings who wanted to show off how strong they were.
A person who sat nearby rolled his eyes when he heard some of those boastings.
His worn-out appearance silently screamed that this person was in his 90's. But there wasn't a cane by his side. As a past laborer, this old man was stronger than an average person in his age. The workers' crew didn't bother to chase him away implying the fact that he was someone they knew for a long time. He patiently watched the crew until their break so he could have a good chat with them.
Suddenly, he heard an excited voice right next to his ears.
"Mo Ge*, glad to see you here!"
Mo Xing turned his head to see another man watching him with a grin. He had a thin white beard that reached his chest. His long white hair was put into a small bun on top of his head. Even though he had a simple clothing style, his clothes stood out amongst the workers' worn-out ones.
Mo Xing was pleased to see this man.
"Oh, Yan Di**, what a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to see you here. What brought our mighty village doctor to this stinky place?"
Yan Lou smiled. "Oh, the new blood who joined last week. He managed to drop a box he carried on his feet."
"Ouch, how is he doing now?"
"Hm, nothing serious. It'll go away with resting. "
"Oh, that's good to hear. By the way, Didi, I want to ask you something."
However, Yan Didi never got a chance to hear what Mo Gege wanted to ask.
"I SWEAR TO GOD... HEY YOU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT NOW. THIS ISN'T A PLAYGROUND."
It was not unusual that some idiots chose to walk through working areas. However, before Mo Xing started his chat again, the second curse boomed across the landscape.
"DON'T LET ME TELL YOU AGAIN. ARE YOU DEAF?"
Workers stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction where noise occurred.
They started murmuring among themselves. As the noise was getting louder and louder, the elders sensed that something wasn't right. At the same time, a middle-aged worker ran towards them. "Seniors, please do something before our boss kills that boy." He asked in a pleading voice.
Mo Xing and Yan Lou looked at each other's faces at the same time. Both sensed that something unpleasant was going to happen in a few minutes.
The two elders stood up in sync and went to see what the upheaval was. Yan Lou reached the about-to-be-crime scene first, while Mo Xing took a few more minutes.
A white-haired youth stood amidst the crowd with a dreamy, confused look on his face. He was nearly 156cm tall.
His clothes were tattered and dirty but, they showed the signs of being white robes in the past. The messy and dirty hair surely didn't see a comb for weeks. His slender body looked ready to be blown away by the wind at any moment.
However, no one approached him due to his appearance, which resembled a mentally disabled person.
"OI? ARE YOU IGNORING ME?"
the youth showed no reaction. The veins bulged up in the crew leader's temple. The way his fists clenched made old Mo Xing worry. He decided to intervene before the angry man beat the newcomer into a pulp.
He stepped up towards the leader and slowly patted the angry man's arm. The motions of Mo Xing's hands ensured that he will handle the boy. Then, he walked towards youth.
Mo Xing looked straight into the young one's eyes.
A pair of electric blue eyes gazed back. For some reason, Mo Xing felt hair raised on the back of his neck. This strong aura clearly didn't harmonize with his pitiful exterior.
However, the boy was deathly pale. This successfully alarmed the elderly man.
He asked the youth. "Um, son, are you ok?".
The youth looked at him.
"Water."
He mumbled in a hoarse voice and collapsed at Mo Xing's feet.
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***One day in the Past- I***
Cough, cough…
He vomited a mouthful of blood. The blood that remained around his lips trickled down through his hind jaw, collected on his chin, and fell onto his light-blue inner robe, painting it blood red.
These stains had a suspicious purplish tinge, which didn't escape from the dark brown eyes trained to detect poison varieties as a *cultivator.
"Blue dragon essence," he mumbled to himself and sighed.
He knew it was a fatal poison that only shows symptoms after doing irreversible internal damage.
He had no idea about when he got poisoned or who poisoned him. He didn't care either.
"Maybe this is how my life is gonna end," He thought.
He remembered his childhood dream; to become a strong swordsman like his elder brother(gege) Da Sheng.
He wanted to become a wandering swordsman who stands up for justice as his gege did.
A pang of sadness enveloped his heart. No, it surrounded his entire existence.
"I'm sorry, Gege. Your didi is a disappointment."
A single tear fell on top of a bloodstain and smeared it further on the white fabric. However, Xie Ra knew it was already too late.
("One day in the past" series contained our MC's old experiences, dreams, or memories.)