Xu Family was one of the prominent families in the core region with an ex-Emperor Hero Class within. A family that was known for their good virtues, kindness, and benevolence. A well-received family by the people in the outer region.
However, Xu Family's kindness was a thorn for the rankers. The Xu Family caught many rankers and jailed them for their evil deeds. It was three years ago, until one day, a rising star of the Xu Family, Xu Lingxin killed a Silver Class Ranker.
Xu Lingxin encountered a Silver Class Ranker in the outer region. The ranker raped the mother and the daughter while the father was killed.
Witnessing such a scene, Xu Lingxin lost control and killed that ranker. Because of his impulsive action, a disaster befell his family after that. The rankers could not accept that one of them was killed.
For this incident, Ranker Alliance showed its dominance and eradicated Xu Family in one night. Not many people knew about this, at least, people in the outer region and people in the commerce region did not know about this.
These people did not know that the famous Xu Family was eradicated by Ranker Alliance. Over twenty Legendary Rankers made a move and Xu Family disappeared forever. Leaving only a nine years old boy, Xu Lingxun.
Heero was in a daze as he heard the boy's story. Yes, Xu Lingxun in front of him, and Xu Lingxun in the story was the same boy. Since his family was destroyed, the boy was delivered to the furthest north.
It was unknown who sent him to the orphanage here. Xu Lingxun did not know, the last memory he remembered was how his grandfather was toyed by the Legendary Class Rankers.
He did not know how he reached the orphanage. In his memories, he was already in the orphanage when he woke up. And that orphanage was the orphanage pillaged by the rankers.
After the boy told everything, Heero noticed the hatred in the boy's eyes deepened. He finally got a certain understanding of why these rankers were so overbearing. They had also an overbearing backer.
"Then what about the Hero League? Don't tell me they were just watching your family destroyed?" Heero asked in wonder.
As he mentioned the Hero League, the boy's body quivered instantly. There was also a change in the boy's expression, anger. Yes, the boy was angry when he brought up the Hero League.
"Hero League? Do you think they will stand up for a destroyed family? No, I am sure they will rather negotiate with the Ranker Alliance. Maybe the Hero League even asked for compensation for their own benefit rather than being hostile! Who knows!?"
Xu Lingxun expressed his anger, his voice became louder as he spoke.
'That makes sense! Those guys might be doing that,' Heero silently agreed with the boy's words, but he did not express it.
"My Family's dedications to the Hero League are worth nothing to them… hiks… hiks…" Xu Lingxun was crying as he went on. Tears streamed down as he lowered his head.
Heero scratched his head as he did not know what to do to calm the boy. He was not familiar with Xu Lingxun. Moreover, the boy wanted to look strong in front of him.
Sure enough, it did not take long before the boy stabilized his emotion. Now, he stared at Heero with eyes full of hope which put Heero in a tough spot. After hearing the story, he… No, everyone who heard that story might have guessed why the boy wanted to be his disciple.
Xu Lingxun wanted revenge of course. But there was no way Heero could not accept Xu Lingxun's request if the boy wanted to be strong to fulfill that revenge. To be more exact, he did not want to train a kid that would be a killing machine in the future.
Based on the boy's story, it was clear the boy wanted to destroy the Ranker Alliance. Maybe the boy wanted to kill all rankers. If he had to accept the boy, he wanted to change the boy's way of thinking.
At least, he had to make sure the boy did not become a killing machine in the future. In his current state, there was a big probability for the boy to be the same as the rankers.
However, Heero also knew that he could not refuse the boy as he was his hope. Rejecting the boy only made things worse.
Without saying any words, Heero moved his hand to touch Xu Lingxun's arm. He was inspecting the boy's body and he found out the boy did not have any foundation like Kang Dong-Woo.
Here, Heero got some ideas in his mind. He could accept the boy as his disciple and feed the boy positive thoughts to change him. Xu Lingxun had to train his body before he could teach the boy Ki Comprehension.
He could see the progress of whether the boy changed or not. If Xu Lingxun remained the same, his heart dominated by hatred, he could choose not to continue training the boy.
'Moreover, I am going to open a martial house and the kids from the orphanage might be my disciples in the future,'
After all, the pure children still did not know the cruel reality, what they knew about heroes only those heroes had been fighting against to protect them. Heroes were an idol to them.
And if he had to ask the kids what they wanted to be, he believed eight out ten kids would answer with "I want to be a Hero!". Heero was sure the kids wanted to join later on.
To be a Hero, they must have strength and strength could be gained from a martial house. At least, the children knew this much. So, he wanted to create a positive environment for the children with the hope it would change Xu Lingxun as well.
After a moment of silence, Heero rubbed the boy's black hair and responded in a gentle tone, "Good, I am going to open a martial house anyway, you can join later. We will start with training your body, your foundation is worse than Dong-Woo, but we will only start the training tomorrow,"
"Why?" the boy asked back.
"I need to make some preparation for your training. Spare your time in the afternoon, I am going to bring you to the commerce region!"
Xu Lingxun lowered his head as he was ashamed of his negative thoughts. He thought Heero was more biased toward Dong-Woo and stalled the training because he was not close enough to Heero.
After that, Xu Lingxun rose from the bench and headed toward the orphanage. He halted his steps as Heero's voice resounded from his back.
"Also, eat a lot! You are too skinny; food is the source of energy for our body! I don't want you to pass out during the training!"
Xu Lingxun was just too skinny for his age when he touched the boy's arm, he could feel the bone immediately. So, he spoke this out to encourage the boy, not to look down upon his skinny body. He reminded the boy that way because he knew the boy did not want to sympathize.
Xu Lingxun merely nodded his head and walked back to the orphanage afterward. After making sure the boy went back to the orphanage, Heero turned around. Just as he entered the shop, he heard flurried steps.
He looked up and saw a small white silhouette flash to the second floor and the steps continued to the third floor. Heero recognized the small white silhouette, it was Shen Miao in her white pajamas.
'Heh, finally I manage to pique her interest in me,'
*** ***
When noon came, sharp at one o'clock in the afternoon, Heero headed toward the training ground with Dong-Woo. When they reached the training ground, where they would have a spar, Bearded Wang already waited for them there.
As soon as Butcher Wang saw the incoming Heero, his face soured instantly. Then, he noticed Dong-Woo followed after Heero, his face turned uglier.
After all, this spar fight was more like a beating session to him. Bearded Wang did not want to be humiliated before his Junior Brother, but he could not avoid that as Dong-Woo was here.
A bitter smile formed on his lips and asked in a helpless tone, "Should we start now?"
"No, you will fight him first!" Heero had his finger directed toward Kang Dong-Woo.
"What? Are you kidding me? You want me to fight a kid? There's a limit for you to humiliate me!" Somehow, Heero's decision not only shocked Butcher Wang but also became a trigger for Butcher Wang.
Different from Sun Zhou Yi, Hong Yu, and Han Ying who still could not adapt to the changes. Butcher Wang embraced the change and he no longer thought that the people in the inner region and the core region were worth his respect.
He no longer lowered himself in front of these people.
He claimed that as long as it was not the Emperor class hero or Legendary class ranker, the top thirty of Gold Class Hero, or the top fifty of Crown Class Rankers, he was the strongest.
Heero did not try to explain to Butcher Wang. Instead, he looked back and said, "Dong-Woo, show your awakened ability to your bearded uncle!"
Butcher Wang was stunned as he heard the words "Awakened Ability". He was not a stranger to these two words; it was a special ability possessed by the famous heroes and rankers. He did not expect his youngest Junior Brother would possess an awakened ability.
His angry expression soured as he realized what Heero was trying to achieve.
'This hateful guy must be thinking to use this boy to stimulate me. If I am defeated by this boy, it will be a stain on my life… And that method might work on me…'
Without any words, Dong-Woo took two steps forward and pushed his fist forward to show Butcher Wang. In five seconds, a change could be seen from the first. The white skin slowly turned red until flame shrouded the fist.
Looking at this, Butcher Wang got even more sure that Heero really wanted to humiliate him to stimulate his spirit. After all, amongst the three first disciples, he was the laziest and did not have any ambition to get stronger. He was already satisfied with everything he had.
"Hit that tree!" Heero pointed at the closest tree. The tree was about four to five meters, its trunks were about half of an adult body.
Dong-Woo approached the tree and then he punched the tree with all his might.
Bam!
The fist embedded in the tree and cracks began appearing after that. The tree cracked, and from the crack, flame sparked out.
Boom!
The tree was blasted into pieces. Witnessing such a scene, cold sweats trickled down from Butcher Wang's back. He was imagining if the fist landed on his body, then he would suffer the same fate as the tree.
"Do you still feel humiliated to have a spar against him?" Heero asked playfully.
Butcher Wang shook his head involuntarily.
"Then there you go!" Heero approached Butcher Wang and whispered something, "Even though that fist could not kill you but if you are hit by that, it will be very painful, so don't hold back even if he is a kid!"
"You too, Dong-Woo, don't hold back and show me what you got! And I will be the referee just in case you guys go overboard!"