After Fan parted ways with Hao Lin, he continued walking along the same path. He didn't know if he was on the right path or not. As he walked, Fan remembered his fight with Shen Xing Namgoong.
(He said he was jealous of me...? That feeling of jealousy is mutual, old geezer.)
After walking for some time, Fan found himself in front of a small village with a few simple wooden houses. The village was quiet with few people around. Fan headed towards a food stall run by a woman carrying her sleeping child on her back. The woman's eyes showed fatigue and exhaustion, and her hands were full of cuts and cracks.
Fan sat at one of the tables, whose wood was slightly worn, but Fan felt comfortable. The woman approached him.
"Welcome to my small stall, what would you like to eat?"
Fan noticed the woman's exhaustion, her feet trembling from fatigue. Fan spoke in a calm tone.
"Some soup with meat and tea, please."
The woman replied in an embarrassed tone.
"Ah, actually, we don't have meat, but I can offer some chicken."
Fan looked at the woman, then lowered his head to the table, apologizing.
"I'm sorry for asking for something beyond your current means. This fool apologizes."
The woman became flustered and waved her hands.
"No, no, please, I'm wrong for not fulfilling your request. You don't need to apologize."
Fan raised his head and said,
"Can you just prepare some tea then?"
The woman smiled in agreement and went to her small table to prepare it.
Three young men in expensive, ancient-looking swords entered and decided to sit at the woman's stall. The first young man wore a white outfit with green flowers and carried a green sword with some black. He had black hair tied with a green ribbon. The second young woman was short and seemed cheerful. She had yellow hair, a black and yellow dress, and carried two short swords at her sides. The third young woman had blue hair, a blue dress with black flowers, and a long black sword.
The woman approached them, welcoming them.
The young man spoke,
"We want some soup with chicken and some green tea."
The yellow-haired girl noticed Fan sitting and whispered to the blue-haired girl,
"Listen, Mei, look at that masked man over there. He doesn't seem to be from this village."
The young man interrupted.
"You shouldn't talk behind people's backs, Tao."
Tao stuck out her tongue childishly.
"What's it to you, meddler Jiao?"
Mei slammed the table and said in a warning tone.
"Be quiet, you fools, you're drawing attention to us."
Jiao and Tao fell silent with angry expressions.
The woman brought Fan his tea. Fan bowed in thanks, and the woman smiled in return. For the first time, Fan liked the look of the tea. Fan took the teacup and tasted it for the first time in his life. Fan's mask got slightly dirty, and he took out a napkin to wipe it, and then tears began to fall from Fan's eyes. The young men and the woman noticed this.
Fan in his mind:
(What is this water? Am I sick?)
Fan had never experienced tears in his life; this was the first time.
Tao whispered again,
"Hey, is this the first time he's drinking tea...?"
Both Jiao and Mei remained silent, ignoring the matter. The woman brought them their food and said,
"I hope you enjoy..."
Then Mei spoke,
"Thank you. And is this your daughter? She's really cute. What's her name?"
The woman patted her daughter and said,
"Thank you. Her name is Yuan."
Suddenly, a young man with an arrogant look, purple hair, elegant purple clothes with some jewelry, slammed the table and shouted,
"Hey, servant! Hurry here and stop chatting with those beggars over there!"
Tao got angry at the young man's words, but Jiao stopped her. Tao looked at Jiao, puzzled why he stopped her, saying,
"Why did you stop me, Jiao? Didn't you hear what he said? Do you think that scoundrel can defeat me?"
Mei spoke,
"We can't cause trouble with every passerby just for a few words, Tao. Besides, he has a huge sword-wielding guard behind him. He looks strong... no, he's extremely strong."
Jiao said,
"I know that guard. He's Mountain Blade Zhang, ranked 89th among the strongest humans."
Mei replied,
"That means that young man is Xiao from the Tang family."
Tao sat down, annoyed.
The young man smiled arrogantly. The woman approached him to ask what he wanted.
"You're late, you fool! Throw that child behind you if she makes you slow!"
The woman spoke with a trembling expression.
"She is my daughter, and I must stay by her side; she has Black Heart Disease."
The young man spoke in a sinister tone,
"Hmph, actually, my master told me these days that he needs someone with Black Heart Disease. Listen, Zhang, take that child with us to give her to the master."
The guard Zhang walked towards the woman, and Mei shouted,
"Hold on! Stop right there!"
Zhang thought to himself:
(I don't want to kill that blue-haired girl either. She seems to be from a noble family. This is really annoying. What does the young master think?)
Zhang turned to Xiao to find him looking down, his eyes red and his nose bleeding profusely, to the point that the table was completely drenched in blood. Zhang shouted, lunging towards Xiao,
"Young Master!!"
Then suddenly, he too fell, vomiting blood, his entire body convulsing in pain. A greater pressure and an intense aura descended. Zhang raised his head to see the masked young man engulfed in an intense black and white aura and immense pressure emanating from him. Fan then spoke:
"You've ruined my mood and my moment of enjoying tea. How can insects like you disturb my lordship? You deserve death..."
To be continued...