The First Experience

While Xue Chang said this, he was facing away from the fight scene and looking toward Lou Ning.

His gaze was erratic and a little strange.

Tian Hai on the other hand pulled his sword out of the corpse with a ~squish~ sound popping out.

Flinging the blood off his blade, he casually looked down at the body in disregard. He kept staring at it as if in a trance.

But a quick cough from Tian Kai quickly brought him out of his stupor.

Looking back to see everyone's amazed gazes, his sights landed on Xue Chang who looked away from the battle.

"Despite being the eldest you are pretty stupid sometimes."

His younger brother's words rang in his head as he looked down at the corpse near his feet.

Killing another human wasn't something new to him. Bandits, criminals, and homicidal maniacs have all fallen from his blade before.

Yet Xue Chang had only ever fought beasts.

Removing his outer robes, he covered up the body hiding it from sight before slowly approaching Xue Chang.

"Are you okay?"

The young master nodded his head casually while muttering something under his breath. Tian Hai paused for a second with a shocked expression on his face.

Then he nodded while picking up the body and walking away.

Under the confused gazes of everyone present, Tian Hai disappeared from sight taking the corpse with him.

"Well now that one issue is settled with, how about we go inside and discuss what exactly happened here."

Although his actions could be seen as odd, Xue Chang quickly clapped his hands together and got everyone situated.

Tian Kai tended to Lou Lan's wounds while he listened to Lou Ning's story on what happened.

Apparently she was just cultivating normally within the house when a loud boom rang out.

When she left to investigate what happened, she saw the front gate was a toppled mess.

Assuming there must've been a break-in, she immediately gave a start before finally seeing Lou Lan get attacked just beyond the gate.

Xue Chang turned to looked at Lou Lan carefully and asked about what happened.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened, one second I was trying to circulate the elemental energy within my body along the path of my cultivation technique. And the next second a sharp pain stabbed into my back as a group of people suddenly attacked me."

Lightly touching the covered wound in his side, he sighed out.

"Luckily they didn't hit any of my vitals. I was barely able to escape and struggled in a battle with them at the front gate when Lou Ning arrived."

He explained that the two of them worked together to fight off the combatants but were easily pushed back when the level two guy got serious.

He took them both on by himself and allowed the others to leave with whatever they stole.

"And the rest of the story is exactly as you've seen. You guys arrived back and pretty much saved us."

An annoyed gaze came from Lou Ning and was aimed toward Xue Chang.

Looking at him with a scowling expression, she muttered out, "And where have you guys been for the last month? Disappearing several times for weeks on end without any warning. What the hell have you three been doing?!"

Tian Kai scratched the back of his head while adverting his gaze while Xue Chang just whistled to himself for a bit.

An awkward silence encompassed the room until the front door suddenly slid open and Tian Hai entered the building.

"Umm am I missing something here?"

Sensing that the atmosphere was a little strange he questioned what happened and received a quick kick to the stomach in response.

Stomping out of the room angrily Lou Ning shouted, "Next time at least give a warning!" Before slamming the door to her room shut.

Apologizing once again for her sister's behavior, Lou Lan also got up and began to depressingly trod into his room.

He seemed more dejected than usual and it wasn't hard to figure out why.

However, before he left Xue Chang's voice rang out.

"Don't worry Lou Lan, you and your sister are still more than welcomed to stay and train here. We made a deal and I don't plan on going back on it."

"But the jade..."

A single finger pressed to his lips as Xue Chang shook his head, "-Will return to us in due time. I have a good idea on who the mastermind behind all of this was. And tomorrow we will go meet him and reclaim what is rightfully ours."

Lou Lan stood froze shocked at Xue Chang's words.

No matter how much he tried, he still couldn't read this child before him whatsoever.

It was like a veil was constantly covering up this person before him.

He held more intelligence and composure than most children should have. Add to his mysterious background, and the child before him became such a strange existence.

As Lou Lan thought about it, he realized he didn't even know the person's name.

He learned Tian Hai's and Tian Kai's names from speaking to them, but the name of the child never popped up in any conversations.

Even when Tian Hai or Tian Kai talked about him, they tended to avoid using names and use titles such as 'young master' instead.

Coming to this realization, he turned to Xue Chang slowly and asked, "I've actually been wondering, what should I call you anyway?"

Xue Chang looked up from what he was doing.

Turning to face Lou Lan, their eyes peered into each other as Xue Chang mustered out a name, "Xue Chang."

Lou Lan froze for a second before giving off a small snort, "Sorry, I don't mean to make fun of your name. It's just that it reminds me of someone else. That name certainly isn't common, I wonder why I know so many people with it though."

He would never consider that the Xue Chang of the Immortal Xue Family and the Xue Chang before him were the one and the same. His age, appearance, and personality were completely different than the rumors.

So how could he ever suspect it?

Exiting the room finally, the smile attached to Xue Chang's face slowly faded away as he turned to Tian Hai calmly.

"You did what I ask?"

A single nod answered his question.

Tian Kai got up from his seat and walked over to his brother, while Xue Chang led the way outside of the house once more.

Five minutes later, the three of them arrived in a concealed area where the draped corpse of the intruder sat.

Xue Chang removed the cloth from the body and stared at the fallen enemy in silence.

"Xue Chang, you don't have to do this..."

"Think about this carefully, this isn't an experience people should go through."

Hearing his friends gentle words, Xue Chang just shook his heads calmly.

"This is something I must do."

Drawing the saber he brought along with him out of its sheathe, he stepped forward and began to hack away at the body.

While this might seem strange and excessive to some, to him it was the first experience that he needed.

The first experience of cutting a human, for the future when he would have to kill one.