Without him properly noticing, he was already eleven years old. He looked at a mirror and saw a few new traces on his immature face, he was looking more and more like his father.
He washed his face and tied his hair into a messy bun behind his head, his slightly wavy hair was somewhat of a rare sight and gave him a somewhat wild vibe, but the childishness killed it.
He took a deep breath and went to the Official Affairs Hall, he already ended all the chores he had that day and was about to choose his first extra task.
Registered disciples were obligated to do at least one extra task for a week otherwise they would be demoted to mere servants. Yujin had no choice since his "adaptation period" ended.
Unfortunately, it became much more difficult to find an appropriate task than he assumed. The easy tasks were already chosen by others and the hard ones involved dangerous actions. Not only that but there were few tasks available, to begin with.
"Hey, I have something for you," a servant approached and handed a letter to him, "Master Long ordered me to give this to you."
Yujin was surprised and quickly opened the letter to see what was written.
[Boy, this is my last gift for you. I know registered disciples have a hard time in the beginning, so I kept a few easy tasks reserved for you. Do your job!]
Below Long Tian's writing, there were a few tasks assigned to Yujin.
[Go collect the money in...]
[Details:...]
[Warn the mortal thugs in the xxx street.]
[Details:...]
[Find the lost dog of Long Xue alive or dead!]
[Details:...]
[...]
[...]
Yujin's weak sense of belonging suddenly began to grow again after he discovered he wasn't forgotten by the branch master.
He found it unfortunate that the other disciples were unwilling to be friends with him, but he was used to it anyway.
The few tasks he was assigned could give him quite a few merits and would give him valuable experience outside, he was extremely grateful to both Long Tian and Yunwei, who brought him to that place.
He suddenly wondered if he could show a bit more of "talent" to the sect, but quickly dismissed the idea. Although Long Tian seemed to be a good person, he didn't completely trust him just yet.
He chose the task with the nearest time limit, the one of finding Long Xue's lost dog, and left with quick steps. What he didn't know, was that a pair of strange eyes was looking at him intently, it was the servant that just delivered the letter.
Outside the manor, he followed the few clues given by the task's details and began to search in the alleys close to the manner.
Even with his superior senses as a cultivator, he just found a few traces left by a dog, like pissing marks and small foot– pawprints. He knew it was the missing dog since there weren't any street dogs in the city, some poor people consumed all of them as food.
Yujin wondered if the lost dog already become a meal and continued his search. After a few hours, the night began to engulf the whole world.
He found more traces that led him to a more distant alley, close to the business district of the city. It was the busiest and the richest district, and therefore had many beggars on the streets, all of which would be glad to eat a healthy piece of meat.
Yujin frowned and looked ahead into a dark alley, he heard a lot of noises coming from that place, and a faint scent of burnt meat. He walked quickly and saw a few beggars roasting a few pigeons on a fire.
Yujin was relieved and returned to his search. When the night was already deep, he decided to stop his search, he had to return before midnight or the guards wouldn't let him in.
Just as he began to return, his expression changed and he quickly tried to hide.
"Come out, I know you are there," a harsh voice sounded in the alley along with the sound of a few footsteps.
Yujing looked around and found he was blocked in a corner by two groups of people, in total it was six men with clothes covering their faces.
Yujin could faintly feel that one of them was a cultivator, but couldn't pinpoint who was it. But he knew that they were there to kill him at worst, and to beat him into a pulp at best, he wouldn't surrender easily.
He knew that his seniors in the branch all had higher cultivation bases than him, so he wasn't sure he was an opponent of them even with the benefits brought by the furnace.
Yujing knew there was no point in hiding and revealed himself while asking, "Why?"
"You already know the answer," the man leading the group said with an ironic tone, "Jealously, competition, hate... I can pinpoint all the reasons if you want."
"I never provoked anyone," Yujin sighed, "Why would you hate me?"
"Many people in the branch spent years trying hard but a kid like you suddenly attained the position they dreamed of easily," the man said while approaching with a metal bar in his hand, "How not to hate? How not to be jealous."
"So you a fellow disciple," Yujin said with a grave tone while looking at the approaching man, "Are you intending on killing me? Aren't you afraid of the sect investigation?"
"Do you really think they will care about a mere registered disciple," the man snorted, "I will play with you first, show me your strength after a year of cultivation."
"It just makes no sense," Yujin sighed deeply, "Why is the brain circuit of you guys like this?"
"I just do as I want, that's the essence of a cultivator," the man pointed the metal bat at Yujin, "My feelings want you dead, I will follow them faithfully."
"Hypocrite," Yujin's eyes turned ferocious and he pounced at the man.
The man was surprised by the sudden outburst of speed and quickly swung the metal bar towards Yujin.
Yujin had long since activated his body technique and his strong true qi gave him unparalleled strength compared to others in the same small realm.
To Yujin, the metal bar in the man's hands was fast, very fast, but his body seemed able to react easily to it. He struck a palm towards the metal bar and knocked it away easily, it penetrated a wall close to them deeply.
Without giving a chance for his opponent to react, he channeled some lightning energy into his fist and struck into the man's chest with all his strength.
The man seemed paralyzed, but it was just that Yujin was much faster than his capacity to react. The man's chest seemed to be hollow as Yujin's fist hit it, and the man was sent flying.
Yujin's eyes were bloodshot, he could feel that he fractured a lot of the man's bones and probably even killed him, he looked around and struggled.
He knew the best course of action was to kill all the witnesses, but he never willingly killed anyone. If the man he just hit was dead, it was simply an accident caused by a miscalculation of strength.
He knew very well that the sect was very strict with the rules, at least superficially. If he just admitted that he killed another disciple, even if it was self-defense, the consequences were too difficult to predict.
If he killed the witness, he would be doomed to need to keep things a secret forever, otherwise, he would surely be executed by the sect.
As for tunning away from the sect, he knew it was impossible. He was too weak and would easily be captured.
"Kneel or die!" Yujin shouted with all his power after seeing the others finally reacting.
Everyone in the alley was shocked and afraid by what they just saw and instinctively wanted to run away regardless of anything, so they began to run desperately.
Yujin clenched his fists but finally found his resolve. He suddenly thought about another fact, he had just easily killed someone with a higher cultivation base and would surely be investigated by people with curious minds.
He thought about the eyes of his dying father, full of resentment and fear, and the indifferent face of his mother, and finally exploded.
'I don't want to be helpless again, ever?' he thought and looked coldly at the flying witnesses.
The next day, a tired boy left his living quarters with bloodshot eyes and a pale face, he didn't sleep that night but had no choice but to get up and do the chores.
Yujin slapped his cheeks hard and washed his face constantly until he felt his face turning for the better, he couldn't afford to show any clues to others.
Six, six people died by his hands, he could still feel the feeling of cracking bones with his fists and hear the screams of the dying men.
All of them begged for their lives, but Yujin couldn't afford to delay things and killed them quickly to avoid letting the others escape.
The eyes are full of despair and hate, similar to the eyes of his father. He never thought he would one day cause that kind of gaze in other people.
The sect soon discovered the corpses of the servants and a disciple in an alley and the news disseminated fast.
A registered disciple in the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm died from a single bow in his chest and the others were mercilessly killed with their chests caved in.
The branch began to conduct an investigation, but no one ever suspected Yujin was the culprit, except one person, the person who delivered a letter to Yujin the same day the people died.
The servant was full of shock, fear, and hate. The servants who died that night were all his friends, and the disciple was his "boss."
Just as he wanted to report what he knew, someone tapped him in the arm, "You look like a calm and composed person."
The servant trembled and looked in horror at a boy much younger than him looking at him with cold eyes, "Are you a calm and composed person?"
The servant swallowed hard and nodded instinctively.
"I thought hard about it," Yujin began to explain why he was there, "Although many people saw me leaving the manor, only one could possibly know the approximate location of my tasks, and what kind of task it was since I never sensed anyone following me during the day.
"Of course, it was easy for you to determine I would choose to realize the task of the lost dog first, right?"
The servant began to look around and wondered what he could do to escape, although he knew that he was safe as long as he was inside the manor.
"You won't escape death if you denounce me," Yujin sneered, "Do you think the sect will let a mere servant with the guts to open a letter from the branch master without permission go?
"They will certainly execute you if this crime is added to the crime of conspiring to kill another disciple."
The servant's pupils shrank and he understood what Yujin meant.
"You better not let me see you outside," Yujin said a few words at last and left for his own chores.
The servant clenched his teeth and hated his own powerlessness. He wondered again and again if there was a way to kill Yujin without putting his own life at risk.
Yujin finalized the chores of the day and left to search for the dog, but he had no more hopes of finding it alive, too much time passed already.
Surprisingly, though, he actually found it alive and kicking in a courtyard a bit further away from the place he fought the night before.