Mei Hua dreamed of fists pounding against his flesh with dull meaty thuds; the sickening stench of perfume mixed with cackling laughter that induced nausea; and he heard the heart-wrenching sniveling cries of a child. He awoke with a start, feeling a pounding headache at his temples-- he had used up too much spiritual energy and now his body was suffering the consequences. 

Sunlight filtered through the rusty iron bars of the cage, blinding Mei Hua and worsening his headache. Squinting, he looked around the cage. All of the children were still huddled together away from him. The little boy had rejoined the group to gain some warmth but came over when he saw Mei Hua awaken. 

“Big brother, you’re awake,” The child whispered excitedly. 

Mei Hua’s heart stung at the words ‘big brother’ but pushed that uncomfortable feeling down and nodded. “Un,” he replied. 

“Thank you for using your powers to help us. The others are thankful too, but they are afraid of you.” The child sat beside Mei Hua and leaned against the boy, providing warmth. 

Rolling his eyes, Mei Hua humphed. He saved their lives and they can’t even offer their thanks? Typical. He closed his aching eyes and leaned his head back against the bars. The boy continued to chatter. 

“Also, thank you for making me warm yesterday. It was such a nice feeling, big brother. Even though you seemed really scary at first, I think you’re really gentle and kind.” The young boy smiled up at Mei Hua with a few missing teeth, adding to his youthful appearance. 

“Un.” Mei Hua didn’t even bother to open his eyes at the comment. Nor did he correct the boy, whom he felt was mistaken. Mei Hua didn’t help the boy because it was him, but because he reminded him of someone else.  

The constant undulating movement of the carriage as they traveled over the uneven ground irritated Mei Hua’s sore body and he felt exhausted. He meditated all day in order to gather more spiritual energy, but he focused on preserving it instead of wasting it to heal himself. 

It wasn’t just Mei Hua who was sick of traveling. The children were tired and continuously whimpered. Some were homesick, others were actually sick. The cage was never opened, so they weren’t allowed out to use the bathroom or eat, meaning they were forced to sit, sleep, and eat in their own swill. The stench was awful. Disease was rampant. They could only pray for the same rain that chilled them to the bone to clean out the disgusting cage. 

Mei Hua’s array dried up and was washed away by the rain a few days ago, so it no longer served a purpose. He only helped the others that one time and refused to draw the array again; it was too taxing. They glared bitterly at the boy, hating him with all their hearts. If he had the power to protect them, then why didn’t he share it? Why did he keep it all to himself? 

From time to time they would spill his soup and water on purpose or try to interrupt his meditation. If they could, they would also get him in trouble with the guards. It was all his fault for giving them hope and then smashing it. He deserved to be treated like this, didn’t he? 

Snickering to himself, Mei Hua felt that this was the very essence of human nature: greedy. They would always want more and more of what they couldn’t have; the cookie jar that was just out of their reach. Of course, he didn’t take the punishments quietly. He, too, would ruin their food or laugh at them when they got sick yet he was still perfectly healthy-- all thanks to his cultivation. It was petty, but who cared?

The only person he cared about and treated well was the young boy. Mei Hua would share his food and spiritual energy with him. It was rough seeing the haggard face and skinny wrists. Yet despite all of that, the boy was always smiling. It really reminded him of his past and he hated it, yet he couldn’t help but relent. 

“Here,” Mei Hua said, holding out half of his bread to the boy who he learned was nicknamed Xiao Ai. 

Xiao Ai’s eyes glittered as he looked at the piece of bread. He glanced between Mei Hua’s face and the bread, uncertain. Mei Hua pushed it into Xiao Ai’s hands before looking away with a ‘humph.’ The boy looked at the food as if it were treasure before taking a careful bite. His eyes closed as he savored the stale bread. 

The others watched with envious eyes as the youngest of them received special treatment. They didn’t even stop to think that Mei Hua was kind or that the youngest deserved to have more food. They all selfishly thought how it should be their piece of bread. 

The carriage rolled to a stop, startling the children who looked around warily. The guards dismounted their horses, taking a short breather. The procession had been on the road for about a month now, taking the children who-knows-where to be sold to god-know-who. With a loud clang, a guard slammed his sword against the metal bars of the cage near Mei Hua. 

Without even flinching, Mei Hua looked over at the guard with a languid countenance, which only infuriated the weak-minded man. Xiao Ai, on the other hand, jumped away, frightened. The guard pointed his finger at Mei Hua, seething, and demanded him to come out of the cage. 

“Come on out, brat,” The guard hissed through clenched teeth. 

The fact that the cage door never opened was a lie. It did open: only to allow Mei Hua out. Upon which he would then be beaten. The guard that had beaten up the creepy, giggling child on the first day had gotten into the habit of pounding his fists into the youth’s flesh. He disliked the look in those golden eyes and wanted to break that look of disgust and indifference; the same look one would give a pile of shit. 

Just like every other day, the guard pulled Mei Hua’s hair and threw him to the muddy ground. Mei Hua’s flesh was covered in black and blue bruises from his face to his feet. Not a single inch was spared. Even in such a low position, those golden eyes seemed to be looking down upon the guard. Mei Hua even raised an eyebrow to challenge the man: you think you can break me? And just like every other day, the man accepted that challenge. 

Using his spiritual energy to protect his vital organs, Mei Hua took the beating like always. He felt dull blows land against his face, stomach, ribs. Everywhere that could be targeted was. The sound of flesh against flesh rang out loudly in the clearing that they had stopped at. 

With malicious, glittering eyes, the children watched with glee from the cage. They all enjoyed watching the selfish and arrogant child being pulverized into the mud. Xiao Ai cried with a runny nose as he watched the scene, stifling his sobs with his small dirty hands. 

Mei Hua accepted the beating numbly, used to the treatment by now. It wasn’t his first life dealing with this kind of thing. And compared to back then, he wasn’t afraid. The only person he was scared of wasn’t in this world, so it wasn’t so bad. That, and Mei Hua also had spiritual energy to protect himself, which cut down the pain by half. He could endure this. This was nothing. 

Huffing and puffing, the guard finished his tantrum. “Have you learned your lesson yet?” 

Spitting blood out near the guard’s feet, Mei Hua shrugged with a smirk. “That’s it?” 

Steam hissed out of the man’s ears, his face turned crimson. Veins stood out against the man’s neck. It seemed like he was about to kill the youth. Another guard quickly stepped in to stop him from killing the merchandise. This guard was tall with long black hair that he kept clasped at the back with a silver ornament. His dark robes tightly hugged his body and showed off his muscular stature.

The man looked down at Mei Hua with cool eyes, a smirk curling the corner of his lips. 

“Instead of beating him, I have a better idea, Brother Li.” 

A shiver ran down Mei Hua’s spine at the man’s tone. This person seemed smarter than the bastard Li and more cunning. Mei Hua cursed mentally to himself, thinking he should have kept his mouth shut. 

“What do you have in mind, Brother Wei?” The guard named Li inquired, giving his comrade a crooked grin. 

“Since a beating is not getting through, why don’t we tie up his hands and have him walk behind the horses? We’ll see how long he can walk for without getting tired. And then we’ll just drag him once he exhausts himself to teach him a lesson.” The one named Wei grinned at Mei Hua. 

An icy atmosphere blew between the gathered people. The thought was cruel and merciless for such a young child. Even the children that hated the boy thought it was a terrible fate, and the guards didn’t have the guts to speak up about it to their senior brothers. All of them just shook their heads and blamed the young boy for not giving in sooner; he brought this upon himself. 

Mei Hua’s face visibly paled. He was used to being punched and kicked, but dragged along a dirt road? He was going to become ground beef! Mei Hua clenched his teeth and breathed through his flared nostrils, trying not to convey his fear to the others. 

Brother Li grabbed Mei Hua by the wrists, laughing maniacally. The guard was happy that he had such a smart brother to help him out with things like this. He wrapped a coarse rope around Mei Hua’s thin wrists. 

With a sharp tug, Mei Hua staggered forward, forced to follow the guard. The coarse rope was already cutting into his flesh. He watched the man jump onto his horse and order everyone to get back on the road. 

“Hold up, Brother Li,” Brother Wei interrupted, walking toward Mei Hua. 

“What’s wrong, Brother Wei?” The other inquired. 

“Why don’t we put a blindfold on the child as well? That way you won’t have to see his insubordinate eyes, and he’ll be even more frightened.” Brother Wei smiled and unwrapped a piece of black cloth from around his wrist. 

Unconsciously, Mei Hua stepped away from the man. His heart hammered against his chest. Just what did he do to deserve this? Why was the blindfold necessary?

Seeing his reaction, Brother Li nodded vigorously. “Go ahead, Brother Wei. It’ll teach this brat a lesson.”

Mei Hua stiffened as Brother Wei closed the distance between them and wrapped the thick, black fabric around his eyes, cutting out all the sunlight. Mei Hua’s heart hammered against his chest at his lost vision. He took a deep breath to control his breathing and didn’t move his head unnecessarily as he tried to listen. 

The guards mounted their horses and snapped the reins. Mei Hua could hear the rumble of the carriage and creaking of the cart as it jolted forward. Whispers danced around his ears, both from the guards and the children. He felt so vulnerable. He could only stand there with his hands tied and his sight blocked, unable to do a thing about it. 

Suddenly the rope tugged as the bastard Li snapped on his reins and trotted forward. Mei Hua trailed behind him at a jog. His bare feet were cut by the pebbles and branches along the way. He couldn’t watch the path to protect himself and he could barely hear over his controlled breathing. 

I have to focus on my breathing or I won’t last very long and then… well, then I’ll be dragged along and become a smear against the road. Mei Hua shuddered at the thought and hurried to control his breathing and send out his spiritual energy to ease the burden. He focused on his legs and lungs, ignoring his bleeding wrists. 

Brother Li sneered as he watched the young child struggle to keep up with his pace. The kid’s matted brown hair flapped behind him, his cheeks were a rosy color. Brother Li couldn’t wait to see the moment that he couldn’t keep up and he would be dragged behind him like a sack of grain or vegetables. 

After an hour, Mei Hua was still keeping up with the pace. His feet and wrists were bleeding. His sides and lungs burned fiercely. The only thing that was keeping him together was his small stream of spiritual energy that he kept flowing through his lungs and legs. But even that was beginning to turn into a trickle. By the minute his breathing was turning more ragged and his face went from red to pale as the strain became too much. 

All of the guards except one were impressed with the boy’s willpower, if it was any of them, they doubted they could have held on as long. The children in the cage were still watching the boy, waiting for him to collapse. Xiao Ai had bitten through his fingernails out of worry. He couldn’t bear to see the one who had shown him so much kindness being treated as such. 

Mei Hua’s chest heaved as he followed behind the horse. One step. Two Step. Focus on sending out the spiritual energy. Ignore the pain. Ignore the pain. Ignore the pain. We won’t give this man what he wants. Everything was bearable until he felt the cold fingers of rain caress his body.