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Chapter 900 The Birthday Gift

In a town called Autumnbrook.

Sitting by the bend of River Fleding, the tiny little hamlet looked every bit the picturesque sight of a paradise village in a fairy tale with its breathtaking sceneries, especially during autumn, where reeds would sway in waves and the brown-red leaves scattered around the ground would drift lazily in the breeze.

Li Mu passed by this tranquil little settlement.

He stopped at the local tavern for food when he saw a boy who looked like he just lived all twelfth years of his living life in privation and destitution staggered through the entrance and stopped right there. He scanned the tavern before walking straight up to Li Mu. Without even a word, he fell to his knees and started to bow, knocking his head on the floorboards.

“Do we know each other?”

Li Mu could have sworn that he could find no inkling that Li Zhiyuan ever knew this boy before.

Gaunt and scrawny, the boy looked like he was no stranger to missing meals. With proper nourishment, he would have looked beautiful and handsome and his gaze carried a wolf-like sternness and strength that belied a child of his age.

“We don’t.”

The boy responded curtly, but he did not allow that to stop his bowing.

Blood began to smear the floor where he was bumping his head.

Li Mu’s forehead creased into a frown.

From within Li Zhiyuan’s memories, Li Mu learned that no warriors should lightly dismiss, underestimate, or offend any women, priests, and children they might encounter. As a world devoid of kingdoms and any bodies of government, Molderad teemed with no lacking of plots and intrigues where dangers often lurked behind the strange and the bizarre, waiting to ensnare anyone foolish enough to let their guard down.

“Then why are you bowing to me?”

Li Mu just had to ask.

“I want to beg for your help to help me kill someone,” the boy looked up at last and replied, his eyes gleaming with hope and anticipation.

Li Mu almost laughed out loud at what he heard.

“Why me?” he asked curiously.

“You’re with a horse and armed with a saber. That makes you a warrior. But no common warrior has a horse as strong and handsome as yours and certainly not a weapon as fine as the one you wield. That makes you not only a warrior but a champion as well. Only champions are worthy for a quest such as mine.”

Li Mu could confess that he certainly felt more intrigued.

“Interesting boy.”

“Well, one question. Even if I’m a champion, why should I be helping you?” Li Mu posed the most important question of all.

It took seconds before the boy found the answer he needed to respond to the question. Like a hurt but unyielding wolfling, he spoke with defiance and resolve, “I have no money. But I gladly bow my head to you. Help me and I shall serve you as your slave. I will willingly forsake everything that is mine by right and forever pledge my services to you, wholeheartedly and faithfully.”

“Heavens be damned, why the hell are you here again, you little beggar!” the tavernkeeper, a kind and gentle-looking man with hair and beard as white as milk rounded the length of the counter he manned and waved for the waiters to drag the boy and toss him out the doors.

“Tavernkeeper,” Li Mu called the old man, “Do you know this boy?”

“My apologies for the nuisance, sir,” smiled the tavernkeeper obsequiously, “The boy is a local orphan in these parts. The mishaps that had befallen his family left him permanently damaged. Here…” he pointed at his head ” … that’s why. He sold the lands in the estate he inherited and once left town to learn how to fight. He came back later, penniless and defeated when no one wanted to accept him and he got himself cheated instead. In the end, he sold off the last remaining parcels of land to hire sellswords but he was cheated again. Since then, he began wandering everywhere, a pauper and a deranged loony, dropping to his knees whenever he sees anyone with a weapon and begging them to help him. It’s been months but he has yet to meet anyone who would say yes.”

Li Mu’s interest in the boy was only growing stronger and stronger. “What were the mishaps to his family that you spoke of?”

“Well, it’s a long story…” said the old tavernkeeper. “The Shens were good people. It’s a pity what happened to them…”

Then they heard the sudden cough coming from the back kitchens of the tavern. It was a female sound, but it sounded authoritative.

The tavernkeeper’s face looked flustered for one split second before he quickly stammered, “I’ve overstepped, good sir. You’re an outsider, so I shouldn’t trouble you with the concerns of us locals. It’s best you get on your way, sir. It isn’t safe lately around here.”

Without giving Li Mu the chance to speak, he hastily spun around and trotted off.

Li Mu peered at him quietly.

He finished his meal and paid his bill.

He rode around the town on the back of his fyresteed until he found the boy pestering a band of passing-by warriors, kneeling and bowing at his feet just near the entrance to the village.

“What? You wish to hire us, boy? Okay, killing is our bread and butter after all, but you got to be able to pay though,” said one of them, a beefy and pudgy warrior, before he and his band of brothers broke into guffaws.

“I don’t have money,” said the boy, his face falling at the realization that he was about to be rebuffed again. But that did not make him stop bowing anyway.

“No money? Then why are we wasting our time here?” quipped one of the warriors, a squinty-eyed man clads in leather armor. “Are you having a go at us, you beggar pup?”

That was followed by a kick into the boy, sending him crashing to the ground in a roll that saw him bruised and his face cut.

“I’ll do anything!” the boy crawled to his feet and begged desperately, with all pride and self-respect forsook, “You can call it a debt or you can take me as your slave! Anything!”

“Oh? Now that’s shed a different light on things,” said the beefy warrior, the flabby rolls of his stomach jiggling grotesquely. “Let’s hear a name then.”

“Grand Master of the Sky Dragons, Lü Song,” the boy uttered the name of the man he wanted to be killed.

“What?!” the fat cheeks of the rotund warrior trembled with sudden fear, as did his voice.

He was not alone. Even the rest of his group had their expressions changed, the smirks on their faces completely wiped away.

For hundreds of miles, the Sky Dragons was a name that commanded both fear and respect, in addition to unopposed authority, largely because of “The Dragon Master” Lü Song, the Grand Master of the Sky Dragons and a Class VI warrior whose brutal and bloody reputation was enough to make anyone cower and shrink in his presence let alone stand up against him.

“How dare you, boy?! Are you playing for a fool and you think we’ll dare to offend such a dangerous figure?!” The beefy warrior’s mask melted into that of malice.

“Son of a bitch, how dare you to wish ill upon a person as respectable as Grand Master Lü?” the squinty-eyed warrior sneered, “Well, since we’re on our way to join the Sky Dragons, we might as well take this boy with us, Zheng. We could offer his head to Grand Master Lü as a token of our loyalty.”

“Just the head will do. Taking the boy is messy enough,” said another, a young man in his late teens but with an expression of inveterate malice and venom.

Stunned, the boy began withdrawing his steps fearfully, dreading the terrible fate that could befall him.

“Thinking of running?” The warrior in his late teens drew out his weapon, a saber with a serrated edge, as he approached the young beggar menacingly.

Then.

“So, you people are joining the Sky Dragons? ”

Li Mu’s voice heralded his arrival into the fray.

“Who goes there!? ” The plump warrior and his cohorts wheeled around to see a lean and suave person clothed in tunic as white as white could be, approaching them on the back of a fyresteed. He was within ten meters away and none of them had sensed him coming.

“I have a gift that I wonder if you could deliver it to Grand Master Lü on my behalf,” Li Mu retrieved a box from inside the fold of his clothing and released it into the air like he was letting a paper boat drift in the currents of a river. Floating magically with a strange magical force, the box bobbed and floated until it reached its target.

This little display of his powers looked harmless enough, but it was enough to demonstrate his powers and rank.

To move objects using mental force was something that only warriors beyond Class V were capable of.

“What might this be, sir?” The squinty-eyed warrior asked, albeit very politely and friendlier this time.

Li Mu flung an arm and six gold ingots hurtled through the air. “It’s the birthday gift I prepared very specially for the Grand Master’s celebration banquet. I would be grateful if you could do this for me.”

The ingots were of the right weight and color and the warriors were pleased.”Very well, sir. We’re on our way to Sky Dragonroost anyway. So this would be a very convenient favor for us. But we need a name, sir. I expect Grand Master Lü will be asking for your name.”

“There is no need,” Li Mu smiled. “Grand Master Lü will know who I am the moment he sees my gift.”

“That means you’re a friend of the Grand Master? Hahaha, I guess that simplifies things.”

Happy to be paid so handsomely, the band of warriors readily agreed to the task.

Even when the band of warriors was leaving, none of them noticed that the beggar boy was gone.

Li Mu smiled. He spurred his fyresteed on and caught up with the beggar boy who was still frantically trying to run away.

Bloodied from the cuts and scratches that he must have gotten when he fell down, the boy glared at Li Mu with pure venom.

Li Mu tossed him a flask of ointment.”Tell me why do you wish to have Lü Song killed,” he said.

The boy scoffed and cast the bottle aside with utmost scorn. He lifted his head up fractiously and said, “I don’t need any kindness from a dog of the Sky Dragons. Take your falsehoods elsewhere! I would gladly feast on your flesh and blood if I could!”

Sitting in the saddle of his fyresteed, an amused Li Mu chuckled, “Well, if you can convince me, maybe I might help you just yet.”

The boy was flabbergasted. “Wait. Aren’t you a friend of that monster Lü Song?”

“That’s none of your concern. Just answer my question.”

The boy hesitated for one second before the look of boldness — the same one gamblers made when they were about to on for an all-in — formed on his face. “The Sky Dragons slew my parents and took my sister.”

“I see,” Li Mu nodded taciturnly, “You want Lü Song killed for his crimes and your sister saved.”

The boy dropped to his knees as he did earlier. “Help me, please! I’d do anything in return! Anything!”

“Rule Number One, never drop on your knees so flippantly. Rule Number Two, never beg strangers so easily. Got that?” Li Mu then pointed to the flask of ointment the boy cast aside. “Pick that up and apply it yourself. Then we’ll pay the Sky Dragons a visit. Are you up for this?”

Without a word of protest, the boy obediently did he was told and picked up the bottle.

…

“Oh? A birthday gift for me?”

The Grand Master of the Sky Dragons, the Dragon Master Lü Song himself was a man in his early seventies. In a world where warriors live up to about a hundred and twenty years old on average, a man who had seen seventy-three summers wasn’t old by local standards. If anything, many still consider him to be in his prime, many more so were the guests who thronged his celebration banquet.

Lü Song took the box that was handed to him and he asked his guests, “Who was it? Did he leave a name?”

The plump and stocky warrior gave a fawning grin that made his face look like the creases of a Chinese bun before he described Li Mu’s appearance, then he said, “I’m sure he must be a youngster who has nothing but the utmost admiration and respect for you, sir. He did say that you’d know who he is the moment you see his gift.”

The main gallery of the stronghold was filled with guests coming from everywhere in the world of warriors here to pay their respects.

“Your reputation precedes you, Grand Master! It’s no surprise that you have younger admirers as well.”

“That’s right. It reflects how high you rank in our society.”

“Damn, I’m envious.”

“This must be a very expensive gift. Look at the box. The box itself looks finely carved from good wood. Open it, Grand Master, and let us have a look too!”

Praises and flattery were in no short supply during the feast.

Lü Song grinned proudly, immensely pleased at himself. “You’re being too kind, all of you. I’m shameful to say that I’m not worthy of all that kind things you say. It’s all because of everybody’s support that the Sky Dragons enjoy its current prestige and I guess that is why we have youngsters so eager to join our ranks as fresh recruits…”

He flipped open the box and it cracked open.

All eyes were on the box and its contents.

But all they saw was a broken sword with the blade three fingers wide and its snapped length five fingers long. The steel of the broken weapon shone with a cold fury, lying inside the box like a snake in peaceful slumber.