Cold at Night

Huang Yang was once again awake at night. Another nightmare had come to ruin his sweet sleep. He had honestly gotten used to them. He still felt pain every time he saw the death of his loved ones, but he would normally go to sleep again after waking up.

This night, however, he didn't really want to sleep. In the morning his parents would put on bright smiles and wish him a happy birthday. They were still worried about him, but he couldn't look them in the eyes.

Maybe he would one day beat the nightmares, ridding him of the shame he constantly felt. Had he not been a kid, the emotions may not have left this deep a mark. Maybe he would have thought better about himself since he actually did slay a demon.

Huang Yang got up and took his clothes on with slow movement, trying to keep the noise he made at a minimum. He would still wear white robes with a black belt and armguards. His hair had grown, and he should often be wearing a black coat of fur over the white robes.

Especially since the weather had gotten colder. While his strong body and qi could keep him warm, he still enjoyed using thick clothes. He had done it since he was tiny.

His father had once given him this black coat of fur, which he had kept since then. This was the first time he had worn it since his last birthday.

He would normally wear them when the cold weather began, yet this year he did not. It had broken a part of his father's heart when he saw this. He loved to see his son following in his footsteps.

Huang Yang had not even used it when the snow began to fall as he felt pain when using it. He opened the door to the garden and walked out.

Snow fell from the dark sky, slowly laying itself in layers upon the ground. Their pool had become rock solid some time ago.

Huang Yang wrapped himself in the coat, feeling the heat from it. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek, thinking about how distant he had become. With a quick movement, he threw the coat back into his room.

With how he had acted the last months, he didn't think himself worthy of it. He could clearly tell how worried his family was, yet the sadness, fear, and shame within his heart just wouldn't go away.

As he stood in the garden, he felt more alone than ever before, only accompanied by the falling snow hitting his face.

His feet moved and he left the garden. He ran through the woods with great speed. He blended in with the snow as his white robes fluttered in the chilling winds.

Each time his feet moved, snow would rise from the ground due to his force. What seemed like steam, came out from his mouth and nose as he breathed in and out the cold air.

His hair danced in the wind behind him, while he began to jump atop the branches. Only then did he realize that he had forgotten his sword. He silently cursed himself for being an idiot, before taking off towards his room again.

He had already gotten quite far away, so he felt bitter since he had to go back again, but a sudden noise drew his attention, bringing him to a quick stop.

Not far from him were two muddled voices, seemingly yelling at each other. With a bit of hesitation, Huang Yang changed direction.

His speed allowed him to quickly arrive at where the voices came from. Before him, were two girls. They didn't really fight, as one of them kept on backing up.

Huang Yang took a place within the branches of the trees. His sharp eyes looked at the two figures. He realized that he knew one of the girls. It was Huang Yao, the girl close to Huang Zhilan before the fight.

He had heard a couple of things about her since then, which gave him a quick understanding. She would bully all she could while sucking up to all with power and status.

She apparently had this from her mother, Huang Rou. A young master from a wealthy family had apparently pretended to be talented in order for him to get with the younger Huang Rou. This lead to the birth of Huang Yao.

It then turned out, that the young master had no talent. He had used pills in order for him to advance, but then he had been thrown out by his family. Even Huang Rou could beat him now, making him nothing more than a laughingstock

"How dare a slave like you practice our family's martial arts?!", shouted Huang Yao as she approached the little servant girl.

Huang Yang who didn't react immediately, only looked at the servant girl. The girl had a cute face with black long hair and blue eyes. She appeared to be a couple of years younger than Huang Yao, yet had already stepped into the opening realm.

Seeing as she was a servant girl, and therefore did not receive proper training, her talent likely rivaled Huang Zhilan. This gave Huang Yang quite the shock, as he knew that Huang Zhilan was already a rare talent.

This, however, wouldn't matter now, as Huang Yao had reached the fifth level of the opening realm. Ever since Huang Zhilan had died, she had received more focus from Huang Hong, letting her advance faster than she should have with her talent.

"I have gotten permission to train The Flowing Sword Dance from elder Hao. he said that it was okay...", said the servant girl as she backed up in fright, clutching a scroll in her hands. Fear showed across her face.

"But I say you can't, not a filthy slave like you", said Huang Yao with a smile.

The servant simply backed up in fear. She knew that fighting would be impossible, but she had come to the Huang family to learn martial arts. She wanted to train.

"A girl with a bit of water affinity shouldn't annoy fire", said Huang Yao as she pulled out her sword. In the dark and snowy night, the warm light from the blade could be seen from a distance. Had it been for the trees, others would have noticed it. She was clearly training in the family martial art.

As Huang Yao readied herself to attack, her senses told her that she was in a dangerous situation. Someone strong had joined them. She could feel it, yet not see it.

The servant girl looked at Huang Yao in confusion. This evil girl had just stopped as fast as she had started. The little girl seemed to figure out, that they were no longer alone. Someone was watching them.

The two girls silently looked around, trying to find the origin of this feeling. Huang Yang looked down at them with a calm gaze.

He knew that his aura would trigger a danger warning. This happened to him, whenever he was fighting his uncle. A person could normally feel it if another person had more strength than them. As the amount of qi would differ. This however didn't take Huang Yang's body into account.

"Wh- Who's there, d- do you know that this is the Huang family's territory?!", shouted Huang Yao with a shaking voice, as fear welled up within her heart. She could tell that this person had power. Maybe he wouldn't dare do anything in another family's territory.

The former arrogant Huang Yao began backing up, yet when nothing happened she once again looked at the servant girl with anger filling her eyes. She bent her knees and took off towards her with her sword raised.

The distance between the two shortened within a second. Huang Yao swung her swords towards the little girl but stopped a couple of centimeters from her. A dissatisfied sigh had run out from Huang Yang's mouth when he saw the scene.

Huang Yao did not dare to move, as she felt the irritation from the unknown existence. She now knew that whoever this person was he didn't wanna see the servant dead.

The silence continued until Huang Yang felt too annoyed about this situation. How come this girl didn't understand that she was supposed to leave.

"You know what I did to Zhilan... Leave", Huang Yang said with a quiet voice. He didn't want to kill another member of the family, but this girl seemed to be as evil as Huang Zhilan was. Not caring about others.

After Huang Yao heard the words, her whole body shivered. She knew that it was Huang Yang, the little monster. She had seen his power and somehow felt that he had grown far stronger. His aura and qi held more power than hers.

She knew that her grandfather needed to know of this. She had to get away alive. Her eyes shot the servant girl an angry look before using all of her power to take off. She ran through branches and bushes with a red face, all the way back to her home.

Huang Yang jumped down, quickly arriving next to the servant girl. He extended a hand for her to get up. After Huang Yao's charge, she had fallen right on her butt.

Fear still showed on the girl's face, yet she took the hand. Her eyes seemed a bit dazed as she saw how young the boy was.

With a shock, sweat began appearing on her face, along with a red color. She hurriedly bowed, "Thanks for helping me, my name is Zhou Ru, servant of Huang Mei".