In a deserted field, four or five young men were beating a boy. One of the youths laughed mockingly and said:
"Ha ha ha ha, orphan bastard!"
Aaron endured these words and the beatings. He suffered violence every day, but it didn't matter to him. He believed that as long as he was a good person, everything would be all right.
Everything was for his brother. It was enough for his brother to live a happy life; the rest was unimportant. After the beating, he staggered home.
Aaron had an older sister who was not his own sister, but he valued her more than his own life. She had saved him when he was about to die and had kept him alive. So Aaron vowed to protect her.
The world Aaron lived in was a world of nurture. The strong survive, the weak perish. But Aaron had neither the resources nor the will to become a breeder. So he never thought of becoming a breeder. He dreamed of studying, becoming a clerk and giving his sister a better life.
When he arrived home, he was greeted by a beautiful woman sitting inside. She was about twenty years old and she was knitting. When she saw Aaron, she immediately got up, hugged him and asked him how his day had been. Aaron replied that it had been good and that he had been having fun with his friends.
Aaron begged the bullies for one thing: not to hit him in the face. By accepting this request, the bullies felt like a merciful king and preferred to hit the body.
The leader of the bullies was at the second level of the Qi Gathering Realm. It was impossible for Aaron to resist them. That night, after putting his sister to sleep, he studied for a few hours and finally fell asleep while studying.
In the morning he opened his eyes and got ready for school. His sister was due to get up an hour later; she worked in a bakery. Aaron made her breakfast and then went to school.
He sat in one of the back rows and waited quietly for the teacher to arrive. This was considered a mortal city. The most powerful individual in the city was at the seventh level of the Qi Gathering Realm.
Aaron had no grandiose future plans; all he wanted was a happy life with his older sister. No matter how much he was bullied, no matter how much psychological pressure he was subjected to, he didn't care.
She was under a pressure that would have driven someone else to suicide many times over. Being bullied and beaten every day, every hour, would have been a mental burden that no one could bear. But Aaron was focused on one goal: to live a happy life with his sister. He was willing to lose sleep, endure beatings and suffer to achieve this goal.
He was smiling as he drove home after another beating session. Today she had brought her sister her favorite dessert that she had bought with the scholarship money.
When he entered the house, the dessert fell on the floor. His sister was lying on the floor. The green lines radiating from her abdomen showed that she had been poisoned. Aaron immediately embraced his sister. Even though her weak and small body was heavy for him, Aaron didn't care.
Aaron was 16 years old and only 160 cm tall. Malnutrition had hindered his physical development. Nevertheless, he immediately took his sister to the nearest doctor. After several examinations, the doctor confirmed that his sister had been poisoned. Aaron's pained expression broke even the doctor's heart.
His sister opened her eyes and, at Aaron's insistence, began to tell him what had happened. Apparently, a young master at the fourth level of the Qi Gathering Realm was attracted by her beauty and tried to make her his own. He tried to persuade her with offers of money and power, but Elis (his sister) repeatedly rejected them.
"You will pay for this!" the young man said as he left the shop. That day a suspicious customer came into the shop, stuck a needle in her sister's stomach and ran away. At first she didn't understand what had happened, but when her fever rose, she realized she had been poisoned and fainted.
The doctor told her that the cure required a herb called "sunwort". This herb could be found in cultivation stores, but it cost two low-level extracts. One low-level essence was equivalent to 100 gold coins, but it was not usually exchanged for gold.
Aaron was shocked when he heard this amount. 200 gold coins was money he would never see in his entire life. But he wasn't going to give up. He was determined to do whatever it took to keep his sister alive.
He traveled to all the breeder's pavilions, saying he was willing to be a slave or a test subject. But each time she was humiliated and kicked by the guards.
One of the guards said sarcastically, "Do you think this grass from the Dark Forest would be given to a mortal like you? It is worth more than your life."
Hearing these words, Aaron wiped away his tears and ran to the Dark Forest. He took a few days' food with him. He didn't care if he died. He was willing to risk everything for the chance of saving his sister.
He knew the Dark Forest was full of monsters, but he had no choice. He had no choice but to trust his luck.