It was small — maybe thirty houses situated around a central well with fields of grain surrounding it and farmers working in the distance, living a normal and peaceful life. The kind of place that probably never saw any excitement — until a Chosen One showed up apparently.

  As we entered the village people started noticing us and a few waved at Chen Wu recognizing him from before — then their eyes shifted toward me and all nodded with smiles.

  "Chen Wu!" A middle-aged man approached smiling broadly and seemed to be his friend — then he saw me and his smile faltered. "Who's... who's this?"

  "This is Fu Yang, unfortunately he was kidnapped and imprisoned by the bandit lord I went to defeat — I'm bringing him back to the sect to recover."

  The man's eyes narrowed a bit."Imprisoned? For how long?"

  "Two months," I said quietly.

  "Hmm." The man didn't look convinced. "Well. Welcome to Greenbrook, I suppose."

  I nodded.

  "Are the young ones ready?" Chen Wu asked.

  "Yes, yes — they've been waiting, let me gather them." The man hurried away, still glancing back at me.

  A few minutes later five kids appeared — three boys and two girls all between thirteen and fifteen years old looking both excited and nervous with each carrying small bags of their belongings.

  One of the boys asked Chen Wu. "You're really taking us to the Clouded Peak Sect?"

  "I am," Chen Wu confirmed. "As I promised." The kids started chattering excitedly among themselves then one of the girls noticed me. "Who's that?"

  "Fu Yang," Chen Wu introduced. "He's also coming with us."

  The girl stared at me as her expression slowly shifted from curiosity to unease. "He feels weird," she whispered to one of the boys and he nodded. "Yeah — I don't feel good about him."

  ( What the? ) I got confused at first, why did they say that but then it hit me — the villain aura. It was already working, making them instinctively uncomfortable around me without even knowing who I was or having spoken a single word to me.

  Chen Wu frowned. "That's rude to say. Apologise"

  The kids apologized but their faces told a different story and kept their distance fromy me.

  We stayed in the village for the rest of the day as the villagers arranged food and lodging — polite to Chen Wu since after all he was a Chosen One blessed by Heaven. But to me?

  That night I lay on a borrowed bedroll ijff umn the village head's house while Chen Wu was in the next room and the five kids were being hosted by their families for one last night before we left.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Staring at the ceiling, thoughts raced through my mind about the villain aura.

  Just in the first meeting they were already hostile toward me and that was a huge problem — while I also needed to address the cultivation issue since if I was going to a cultivation sect they'd test me and if they discovered I was already at Foundation Establishment that would raise suspicion. I needed a story that explained why a "mortal merchant's assistant" had such high cultivation or I had to take an immediate action.

  The next morning as we prepared to leave I approached Chen Wu privately. "Can I ask you something?" I said quietly. "The sect you're taking us to... do they really teach cultivation to anyone?"

  "Yes. That's why I'm bringing these kids, they have potential but no training."

  "What about... someone who already has a little cultivation? Just the basic Body Refinement stage. Could they still learn?"

  Chen Wu looked surprised. "You have cultivation?"

  "A little — my master, before the bandits killed him, had taught me some basics, simple breathing techniques. I never got very far but I always wanted to continue learning." It was a good lie.

  "Of course you can learn," Chen Wu said warmly. "The sect welcomes all students no matter their starting level — Foundation Establishment and below can all benefit from our training."

  "Thank you," I said, trying to sound grateful. "I know I'm asking a lot — you've already done so much for me."

  "Don't worry about it — you deserve a chance to rebuild your life." Heh, what righteous words…

  *****

  We left Greenbrook Village at mid-day.

  Seven of us in total—five excited teenagers with me following Chen Wu as he led the way.

  The kids kept their distance from me and whenever I got too close they'd unconsciously move away or shoot a wary glance — the villain aura was like pushing them back.

  As we walked one of the boys bombarded Chen Wu with questions about cultivation.

  "What's the first stage called again?"

  "Body Refinement," Chen Wu answered patiently. "You strengthen your body and prepare it to hold qi — that's what you'll all start with."

  "And after that?"

  "Foundation Establishment — that's where you build your cultivation foundation and it's a big step." He touched his chin. "And I am currently at the early stage of Foundation Establishment."

  The kids looked impressed — and it was impressive since Foundation Establishment at sixteen was apparently quite good.

  While they chatted I kept quiet and listened as Chen Wu taught — learning about his sect, his cultivation system and his worldview all at once.

  We traveled for three days and each night we'd camp in clearings along the road where the kids would sit around the fire listening to Chen Wu tell legendary stories about the sect and his masters — he made it sound noble, like cultivation was about self-improvement and helping others, about becoming strong enough to protect the weak and sacrifice yourself for world peace, blah blah blah. I felt like my ears were bleeding from this brainwashed fool spouting so much nonsense.

  (Typical righteous sect propaganda.)

  But the kids ate it up — their eyes shining with dreams of becoming powerful cultivators as one boy shouted about saving innocent people, and that was the funny part. These same pieces of shit who ignored me, were rude to me, now talking about saving others.

  What hypocrisy. These rats.

  On the third night, Chen Wu sat down next to me while the five rats were sleeping.

  "You've been quiet,"

  "Just thinking."

  "About what?"

  I paused. "It's just….. Can you imagine how someone calls a good person in a place where everyone's already good?"

  Chen Wu gave a confused look.

  " I mean It's like if a person is only called righteous because there are wrongdoers to stand against—so if no one does wrong, then what does righteousness even mean?"

  SILENCE.

  "So you're saying good needs evil to exist?"

  "Not like it needs to be. Just... can't be seen without it — like a shadow proves there's light somewhere."

  He didn't reply. "Forget it, haah, It was just a thought." But it really wasn't…

  *****

  The next morning we finally saw the sect — Clouded Peak rose in the distance, a mountain covered in mist with buildings scattered up its slopes and cultivation platforms, training yards and pagodas disappearing into the clouds. It was beautiful and impressive and the five kids gasped in awe.

  Chen Wu smiled. "Welcome to Clouded Peak Sect."

  ...…..

  We walked toward the mountain gates and I prepared myself for whatever came next.

  The road from the gate to Clouded Peak Sect took one whole day as Chen Wu led our group through cloudforest and across streams following paths he clearly knew well — the five kids, whose names I'd learned by now: Mei (15), Lin (14), Jian (13), Wei (14) and little Hua (13), chattered constantly about what the sect would be like.

  "Do you think we'll learn sword techniques first?" Jian asked for the tenth time.

  "Or maybe flying?" Wei's eyes were wide with excitement. "Can Foundation Establishment cultivators fly?"

  "No, not yet — flying comes much later since Foundation Establishment is still early on the cultivation path." Chen Wu laughed.

  And then we passed through a small town where Chen Wu bought supplies — rice, dried meat and some medicinal herbs while the kids got excited over candied fruit from a street vendor.

  "Fu yang," Chen Wu called to me. "Do you want anything?"

  "I'm fine."

  I turned my attention to somewhere else when I noticed one of the girls — Mei standing near Chen Wu as he paid the vendor and she'd been doing that a lot, staying close to him, offering to carry things and laughing a bit too much at his jokes.

  I watched her sneak glances at him when she thought no one was looking and the way her face lit up when he spoke to her directly.

  (Interesting)— a young crush, innocent admiration for the older boy taking her to a better life.