Chapter 25: HiRyu


    “Oh? Why doesn’t the village head deal with that?”


    “Well, you see, the Zhao family is simply too big and strong


    for even the village head to deal with. You see, the village head is at the 6th


    level of Absorption, while the head of the Zhao family is at the 7th


    level of Absorption. Furthermore, the Zhao family owns a very large amount of


    slaves who are all fairly strong.”


    “I see, I see…”


    A grin started to form on Guo Huo’s face.


    “Alright, Jia Yuan. I’ll make a deal with you. If you can


    pave the way for me to the Zhao head, I’ll take care of him. However, you’ll


    have to deal with the rest of them. If you fail to do so, then I won’t help.”


    Jia Yuan’s ex-master started panicking. “Sir, you can’t! Jia


    Yuan is much weaker than the Zhao family even if their family head isn’t


    involved!”


    “Hmm? But he’s at the 3rd level of Absorption


    with an extremely powerful Song. He should be able to fight evenly with those at the 6th


    level of Absorption.


    The ex-master’s face really turned green this time. He


    thought that he had gotten a good deal selling Jia Yuan for 10 thousand small


    fire shards earlier, but it turned out that Jia Yuan would actually have been


    worth far more than he had asked for. If only he had known earlier just how


    valuable Jia Yuan was…


    Unfortunately, the deal had already gone through, and Guo


    Huo was clearly not a man to be be annoyed.


    As such, Jia Yuan’s ex-master could only grind his teeth in


    regret.


    As for Guo Huo’s proposal to Jia Yuan, Jia Yuan readily


    agreed.


    After all, this was simply too great an opportunity! Ever


    since the Zhao family had robbed his ex-master of the fire shards gained from


    selling Dou Di to the Army, he had wanted to exact revenge.


    But his strength had been too low! Before leaving the


    village, he had only been at the 1st level of Absorption! If he


    tried to go against the Zhao family before, he would easily have been


    overwhelmed and probably beaten to the brink of death.


    However, now he was at the 3rd level of Absorption,


    and according to Guo Huo he could fight others at the 6th level of Absorption!


    Furthermore, he had a powerful figure in Guo Huo backing him up!


    If I were to get overwhelmed,


    he’d surely intervene right? After all, he seems rather interested in me.


    This will also be a worthy


    test in my path of cultivation. How ‘bout we call it “The Fiery Hero Jia Yuan


    saves Fire Hill Village from the ugly Zhao overlords!”


    Jia Yuan readily agreed to the deal proposed by Guo Huo. “Sure,


    but when will we do it?”


    “That depends… if you were to suddenly attack the Zhao


    family, would the rest of the village side with you or against you?”


    Jia Yuan immediately replied, “The Zhao family has been


    bullying all of the villagers who are not able to easily defend themselves. I


    believe that the village would be glad if the Zhao family were to be removed.”


    “In that case, we’ll rest for the night. In the morning, you’ll


    go to the village center and provoke the Zhao family. From there, it’ll depend


    on your performance. In the meantime, I’ll treat the two of you to a meal.”


    With that, Guo Huo tapped his necklace and drew out a small


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.bag. He plopped the bag onto the table, and opened it. Jia Yuan and his


    ex-master could both smell the meat within, and began salivating.


    Guo Huo turned to the stove, and then paused.


    “You wouldn’t happen to have a pot, would you?’


    Jia Yuan awkwardly glanced at his ex-master, then with a


    thought, withdrew a pot from his ring and threw it over to Guo Huo.


    “Ah, excellent.”


    Guo Huo quickly lit a fire by waving his hand at the bottom


    of the pot. Interestingly enough, even though there wasn’t any wood there to


    burn, the fire did not go out. Jia Yuan noticed this phenomenon, but did not


    ask, as he didn’t want to distract Guo Huo from cooking this…*ahem* deliciously


    smelling meat.


    After a few minutes, Guo Huo finished cooking, and the three


    of them ate the wonderfully tasty meet, and then went to sleep in preparation


    for the battle tomorrow.


    -8 hours later-


    Jia Yuan and Guo Huo had both woken up about half an hour


    ago. Jia Yuan was stretching and calming himself before the battle, and Guo Huo


    was watching him do this and making his judgements.


    At this time, Guo Huo spoke up. “If you can defeat everyone


    but the Zhao family head, I will fulfill my promise, but I will give you an


    additional challenge. You must learn to control the destructive capability of


    your Song. I noticed during your fight with the bandits that the flames


    exhibited from your sword while performing your Dance were very wild and


    unbridled. This shows that you have a complete lack of control your Song.”


    “It is the same concept that applies to actual singers. The


    same song, sung by two different people, can sound very different and give off


    a different feeling, depending on how they sing it. It is the same way with our


    Songs. Unfortunately, right now you do not have any control over the Song and


    are like a fledgling. Of course, you are at the lower of Absorption, so you


    haven’t had too much experience with your Song, but it will be good to begin


    practicing control over your Song.”


    “As such, I give you a challenge. You will be fighting


    around the village. As such, your challenge will be to not let a single scorch


    mark be left on any of the villager’s houses. If you don’t succeed, you’ll be


    punished.”


    Jia Yuan understood the reasoning behind Guo Huo’s


    challenge. If he defeated the Zhao family but destroyed the village in the


    process, the villagers wouldn’t exactly be happy about it. In fact, they might


    even view Jia Yuan in a worse light than they did the Zhao family.


    Furthermore, it was true what Guo Huo had said about


    control. Jia Yuan hadn’t even thought about controlling the Song at all, and


    had only been working to increase his destructive power. Even when he had used


    the flames under his feet to propel himself farther, the flames had been very


    wild and unbridled.


    “I accept your challenge.” With that, Jia Yuan headed out


    the door of the shack toward the center of the village.


    Upon arriving, Jia Yuan drew his new sword out of the ring,


    and drew the sword out of the scabbard.


    “A good sword should always be named. As of now, I will call


    you HiRyu!


    (Writer’s note: That means fire dragon.)